Regular to Irregular . . . That Is the Question

Spanish has what you call irregular verbs. They are a bit on the strange side. Some would say they can be a blend of stem-changing and spelling-changing or one or the other. Either way, they are not regular verbs!

As I go through the various irregular verbs below, I have included a very short video clip pronouncing the verbs you see in the tables. Feel free to listen and re-listen to the clips. It will help you hear how these verbs sound.

First, let's handle the spelling-changing type. I've placed where the change occurs in bold and underline.

• i to í (with an accent mark)

-ar

Guiar (to guide)

Guío Guías Guía

Guiamos Guiáis

Guían

Other verbs that work like this are: enviar, confiar, and criar.

• u to ú (with an accent mark)

-ar

Continuar (to continue)

Continúo Continúas Continúa

Continuamos Continuáis

Continúan

Other verbs that work like this are: acentuar, actuar, and graduar.

• Reunir is similar to the above u to ú verbs

-ir

Reunir (to assemble, gather together)

Reúno Reúnes Reúne

Reunimos Reunís

Reúnen

• ui to uy

-ir

Incluir (to include)

Incluyo Incluyes Incluye

Incluimos Incluís

Incluyen

Other verbs that work like this are: concluir, construir, distribuir, contribuir, huir, and destruir.

Second, here are some verbs change form only in certain instances. I've tried to block them out the best that I can to help you learn them easier.

• These verbs only change form in the first person (Yo) form

-ar	-er	-er	-er	-er	-er	-er	-er	-ir
Dar (to give)	Caer (to fall)	Hacer (to make)	Poner* (to put)	Traer** (to bring)	Valer (to be worth)	Saber (to know (as in facts))	Ver (to see)	Salir (to go out)
Doy	Caigo	Hago	Pongo	Traigo	Valgo	Sé	Veo	Salgo
Das Da Damos Dais Dan	Caes Cae Caemos Caéis Caen	Haces Hace Hacemos Hacéis Hacen	Pones Pone Ponemos Ponéis Ponen	Traes Trae Traemos Traéis Traen	Vales Vale Valemos Valéis Valen	Sabes Sabe Sabemos Sabéis Saben	Ves Ve Vemos Veis Ven	Sales Sale Salimos Salís Salen

* Verbs that conjugate like poner are: componer, disponer, proponer, and suponer.

** Verbs that conjugate like traer are: atraer and distraer.

Please also note the Vosotros forms conjugate differently (there is no accent mark as usually done in that form) for the verbs dar and ver.

• These verbs change form in all but the Nosotros and Vosotros forms

-ar	-er	-ir	-ir	-ir
Estar (to be)	Tener (to have)	Decir (to say)	Venir (to come)	Oír (to hear)
Estoy Estás Está	Tengo Tienes Tiene	Digo Dices Dice	Vengo Vienes Viene	Oigo Oyes Oye
Estamos Estáis	Tenemos Tenéis	Decimos Decís	Venimos Venís	Oímos Oís
Están	Tienen	Dicen	Vienen	Oyen

• These are miscellaneous irregular verbs. Please note where they change.

-er	-er	-ir
Haber* (to have)	Ser (to be)	Ir (to go)
He Has Ha Hemos	Soy Eres Es Somos Sois Son	Voy Vas Va Vamos Vais Van
Habéis
Han

* The verb haber has a very special third-person singular form, hay, which means "there is, there are".

Please also note that for ser and ir the Vosotros forms do not contain any accent marks.

There you have it. All of the irregular Spanish verbs in the present tense. It's not too bad, huh? Like stem-changing and spelling-changing verbs, there is no good way to keep these irregular verbs straight except to memorize them. I've mentioned conversing with friends, family and pets using these verbs as much as possible. You can also write out flashcards to drill yourself or make a game of it. For you techies out there, maybe try using a flashcard app on your smartphone or tablet. There are free versions and paid apps out there at your disposal. Either way, use these verbs often and as much as you can in conversations and in writing. Before you know it, you will get it. Best of luck to you all.

¡Hasta luego!

~Keith