Regular and Irregular verbs
In a language, there are regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs all follow the same basic rules. Unfortunately, there are some verbs that don’t follow those regular rules and you must memorize those conjugations.
First, I will explain the regular verbs. They aren’t very hard to understand and by just understanding the present tense, you will have a great start in the language.
Regular Verbs
-AR verbs
The majority of Spanish verbs, at least the ones you will use the most, are going to be –ar verbs. Some common –ar verbs are comprar (to buy), hablar (to speak, talk), and cocinar (to cook). Listed next is the –ar general present tense verb conjugation followed by the present tense conjugation for the three previously mentioned verbs. All the conjugations are listed in order starting with Yo (I), Tú (you informal), El/ella/Ud. (he/she/you formal), Nosotros (we), and ellos/ellas/Uds. (you plural).
-o compro hablo cocino
-as compras hablas cocinas
-a compra habla cocina
-amos compramos hablamos cocinamos
-an compran hablan cocinan
-ER verbs
The –er verbs are less common than the –ar verbs. Some examples are comer (to eat) and comprender (to understand). Here is how –er verbs are conjugated.
-o como comprendo
-es comes comprendes
-e come comprende
-emos comemos comprendemos
-en comen comprenden
-IR verbs
The –ir verbs are the least common verbs, but there are some important ones such as vivir (to live) and escribir (to write). Here is how –ir verbs are conjugated.
-o
-es
-e-
imos
-en
They are conjugated very similarly to –er verbs except for the nosotros conjugation.
Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs can cause a lot of frustration when learning and speaking a language. The best way to deal with using irregular verbs is by memorizing their conjugations. I can’t give you all the conjugations for every irregular verbs in Spanish because there are way too many. I will give you the most common in their present tense. For a more extensive study on regular and irregular verbs, pick up a copy of 501 Spanish Verbs
Tener is another widely used verb. It means to have. How often do you say I have, you have, we have, they have, etc. throughout the day? I’m sure more often than you can count. It is a very useful word and is very simple to conjugate. You will use it so often that you can’t help but perfect it. Still, master it now to save you time and trouble in the future.
Yo = tengo
Tú = tienes
El/ella/Ud. = tiene
Nosotros = tenemos
Ellos/ellas/Uds. = tienen
Examples:
Spanish: Yo tengo un coche.English: I have a car.
Spanish: Nosotros tenemos una fiesta asistir.English: We have a party to attend.
The verb tener can also be used with the infinitive, which is the unconjugated form of the verb. This would be used when you say “I have to do something”.
For example:
Spanish: Yo tengo comer cena.English: I have to eat diner.
A second irregular verb that is used often is ir, which means to go. Ir is conjugated like this:
Yo = voy
Tú = vas
El/ella/Ud. = va
Nosotros = vamos
Ellos/ellas/Uds. = van
It looks completely different than the infinitive when you add the v, but don’t worry, it’s correct. Here are some examples:
Spanish: Ellos van a la escuela.English: They go to school.
Spanish: Tú vas a la casa todos los dias despues de la escuela.English: You go home everyday after school.
Here is a list of some more irregular verbs and there conjugations
Dar (to give) Ver (to see) Decir (to tell) Venir (to come)
Yo = doy voy digo vengo
Tú = das vas dices vienes
El/ella/Ud. = da va dice viene
Nosotros = damos vamos decimos venimos
Ellos/ellas/Uds. = dan van dicen vienen
For more verbs, get 501 Spanish Verbs
Back to Verb Conjugation Homepage