Learning Spanish is like walking through a museum.

You’re entranced by the colors, the image, the emotions and the creativity.

Many of the Spanish language elements you’ll encounter in this linguistic museums are rather straightforward—Spanish is really great at not overcomplicating things (as opposed to, say, English). With most Spanish verbs, for example, what you see is what you get. You apply the simple conjugation charts you already learned and—boom, you’re done.

However, some verbs are just weird, like abstract Picasso paintings. You see some of the same techniques used in other paintings, but you just can’t make sense of the why and how. You have to tilt your head, squint and use your imagination to really see the picture. After leaving the museum, you may soon forget many of the quirky details of those funkier paintings.

Irregular verbs are the Picasso paintings in our Spanish gallery.

Here, we’ve created a guide to teach you how to see the painting and the method behind what seems random and chaotic.
 

 

Irregular Spanish Verbs: Conjugation Made Simple for Beginners

An Introduction to Regular Verb Conjugation

There are three types of verbs in Spanish and they’re categorized by their endings.

There are -AR verbs (like hablar), -ER verbs (like beber) and -IR verbs (like vivir). When conjugating any verb in Spanish, you remove that two-letter ending and add the proper conjugation depending on the tense and which person you’re referring to.

The best way to explain it is to show it. All three of these verbs are regular. Here are the conjugations for a regular verb.

Hablar (to Speak)
Yo	hablo
Tú	hablas
Él/Ella/Usted	habla
Nosotros	hablamos
Vosotros	habláis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	hablan

 

Beber (to Drink)
Yo	bebo
Tú	bebes
Él/Ella/Usted	bebe
Nosotros	bebemos
Vosotros	bebéis
Ellos/Ella/Ustedes	beben

 

Vivir (to Live)
Yo	vivo
Tú	vives
Él/Ella/Usted	vive
Nosotros	vivimos
Vosotros	vivís
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	viven

There you go, a quick guide to standard, “regular” Spanish conjugation. Ta-da! Time for the more complex area: irregular verbs.

An Introduction to Irregular Verb Conjugation

What makes a Spanish verb irregular?

Irregular verbs are any verbs that do not use the standard, “regular” verb conjugations listed above. What makes irregular verbs difficult is that, by definition, they do not have a regular set of rules you can follow. But here are some numbers to think about.

Almost all -AR verbs are regular. Less than 5% are irregular.

Almost all -ER verbs are irregular. Over 72% are irregular. There are 18 verbs that end in -AER and they are all irregular. For example, caer (to fall) and traer (to bring).

Less than half of all -IR verbs are irregular. Over 33% are irregular.

So while there are no steadfast rules, those numbers should give you a good idea of when to expect irregular verbs.

There are some tips and tricks you can keep up your sleeve that will help you understand irregular verb conjugation.

A Quick Overview of Spanish Verb Tenses

Before we get into the verbs, let’s talk about tenses. There are five indicative simple tenses.

Present, preterite, imperfect, conditional and future.

Present: Pretty self explanatory. A verb conjugated in present tense is expressing an action that’s currently happening or that’s recurring. For instance, “Billy eats dinner” (Billy come la cena).

Preterite: This an action performed in the past that’s completed. Something like “I walked to school” (Yo caminé a la escuela). You walked to school, it happened and now you’re done with it.

Imperfect: this is an action performed in the past that is not completed. An example of this is “I was reading my book when the phone rang” (Yo leía mi libro cuando sonó el teléfono).

Conditional: This tense is used when something may or may not happen or could’ve happened. For example, “I would study if I didn’t have so much to do” (Estudiaría si no tuviera tanto que hacer). You might have also noticed our tricky friend subjunctive in there (tuviera). Dive deeper into that with this post. 

Future: This tense is used for something that will happen. “I will go to the store tomorrow” (Iré a la tienda mañana).

Keep in mind that the above examples are using all different types of Spanish verbs, -AR, -ER and -IR.

How to Deal with Irregular Verbs

Finally, we’re here. You now have a good base understanding of how verbs are conjugated in Spanish. Let’s just go for it!

Ser and Estar (to Be)

These are the two most common verbs in Spanish. They’re also two of the weirdest verbs to conjugate. There have been whole books written on ser and estar, like this one.

I’m not going to go into all of the differences between ser and estar, but I am going to show you how to conjugate these funky verbs in the five indicative simple tenses.

Ser	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
yo	soy	fui	era	sería	seré
tú	eres	fuiste	eras	serías	serás
él/ella/Usted	es	fue	era	sería	será
nosotros	somos	fuimos	éramos	seríamos	seremos
vosotros	sois	fuisteis	erais	seríais	seréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	son	fueron	eran	serían	serán

 

Estar	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
yo	estoy	estuve	estaba	estaría	estaré
tú	estás	estuviste	estabas	estarías	estarás
él/ella/Usted	está	estuvo	estaba	estaría	estará
nosotros	estamos	estuvimos	estábamos	estaríamos	estaremos
vosotros	estáis	estuvisteis	estabais	estaríais	estaréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	están	estuvieron	estaban	estarían	estarán

How can you differentiate between these two? Here’s something to keep in mind.

Estar in every tense starts with “est.” So even though the endings are irregular, which will take a bit of practice and memorization, the beginning three letters are always the same. This will also help you distinguish between ser and estar in reading and conversation.

Haber (to Have)

Haber is another verb that’s like a Picasso painting. There isn’t anything quite like it. Only a few of these conjugations are irregular, shown in red above. You can see that the real funky tense is the preterite. The only thing that’s different is that, in the preterite, you’re using a u when normally you would use an a.

Haber	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
yo	he	hube	había	habría	habré
tú	has	hubiste	habías	habrías	habrás
él/ella/Usted	ha, hay	hubo	había	habría	habrá
nosotros	hemos	hubimos	habíamos	habríamos	habremos
vosotros	habéis	hubisteis	habíais	habríais	habréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	han	hubieron	habían	habrían	habrán

 

Hacer (to Do) and Decir (to Say)

Why the heck would I put these two verbs together? They have different endings and completely different meanings. I promise, there’s method to my madness.

Decir and hacer have one main thing in common, the soft “c.” This means that they have similar irregularities. What are those irregularirites? I’m glad you asked!

1. The first person conjugation (yo) in the present tense requires a g for both decir and hacer.

2. In the preterite tense, they both change the vowel in their stems to i.

3. The conditional tense for hacer and decir both add in an r.

Take a look!

Hacer	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
yo	hago	hice	hacía	haría	haré
tú	haces	hiciste	hacías	harías	harás
él/ella/Usted	hace	hizo	hacía	haría	hará
nosotros	hacemos	hicimos	hacíamos	haríamos	haremos
vosotros	hacéis	hicisteis	hacíais	haríais	haréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	hacen	hicieron	hacían	harían	harán

 

Decir	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
yo	digo	dije	decía	diría	diré
tú	dices	dijiste	decías	dirías	dirás
él/ella/Usted	dice	dijo	decía	diría	dirá
nosotros	decimos	dijimos	decíamos	diríamos	diremos
vosotros	decís	dijisteis	decíais	diríais	diréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	dicen	dijeron	decían	dirían	dirán

 

Tener (to Have) and Poner (to Put)

It really helps when you group similar words together. Then you just have to remember what’s irregular about one to know what’s irregular about the other. How are these two similar?

1. In the first person conjugation (yo) of the present tense there’s a g.

2. The preterite tense changes the stem vowel to u for both poner and tener.

3. In the conditional and the future tenses there’s a d placed before the conjugated ending.

Tener	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
yo	tengo	tuve	tenía	tendría	tendré
tú	tienes	tuviste	tenías	tendrías	tendrás
él/ella/Usted	tiene	tuvo	tenía	tendría	tendrá
nosotros	tenemos	tuvimos	teníamos	tendríamos	tendremos
vosotros	tenéis	tuvisteis	teníais	tendríais	tendréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	tienen	tuvieron	tenían	tendrían	tendrán

 

Poner	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
yo	pongo	puse	ponía	pondría	pondré
tú	pones	pusiste	ponías	pondrías	pondrás
él/ella/Usted	pone	puso	ponía	pondría	pondrá
nosotros	ponemos	pusimos	poníamos	pondríamos	pondremos
vosotros	ponéis	pusisteis	poníais	pondríais	pondréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	ponen	pusieron	ponían	pondrían	pondrán

 

Sentir (to Feel) and Seguir (to Follow)

First, these two verbs have the same irregularity in preterite: The e changes to i in both the singular and the plural third person conjugations.

However, they have different irregularities in the present tense.

Sentir has ie instead of e in singular first and second person conjugations. This change doesn’t occur in the plural first and second person conjugations, nosotros and vosotros forms.

Seguir has just an i instead of the e for four conjugations: first person plural and first, second and third person singular.

These irregularities are very common and you will find them repeated often. Other verbs which have the same irregularity as sentir (e to ie) include: empezar, comenzar, pensar and querer. Other verbs like seguir (e to i) are: pedir, elegir and medir.

Sentir	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
yo	siento	sentí	sentía	sentiría	sentiré
tú	sientes	sentiste	sentías	sentirías	sentirás
él/ella/Usted	siente	sintió	sentía	sentiría	sentirá
nosotros	sentimos	sentimos	sentíamos	sentiríamos	sentiremos
vosotros	sentís	sentisteis	sentíais	sentiríais	sentiréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	sienten	sintieron	sentían	sentirían	sentirán

 

Seguir	Present	Preterite	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
yo	sigo	seguí	seguía	seguiría	seguiré
tú	sigues	seguiste	seguías	seguirías	seguirás
él/ella/Usted	sigue	siguió	seguía	seguiría	seguirá
nosotros	seguimos	seguimos	seguíamos	seguiríamos	seguiremos
vosotros	seguís	seguisteis	seguíais	seguiríais	seguiréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	siguen	siguieron	seguían	seguirían	seguirán

Now you can confidently look at these verbs and know how to conjugate them.

When in doubt, say the word out loud. Hearing it is different than seeing it or writing it.

With time you’ll be able to hear when a verb just doesn’t sound right—and that’s when you’ll know that you’re a total Spanish conjugation machine.

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