Your Ultimate Guide to Irregular Verbs in Spanish in the Present Tense

Spanish irregular verbs are verbs that change their stem, their ending, or both when conjugated, instead of following the regular patterns for -ar, -er and -ir verbs. Many of the most common verbs in the language, ser, estar, tener, ir, hacer, poder, are irregular, so learning them is not optional. Most of them still follow a smaller set of predictable patterns, covered below, along with a full reference table for the verbs you will use every day.

Quick reference: the most common Spanish irregular verbs, present tense

These conjugations use tú and vosotros, the forms you will hear across Spain. In Argentina and Uruguay, the vos forms replace tú in the second person singular, see the Argentina tables further down this guide for the full pattern.

The common irregularity patterns, grouped

There is no single official count of Spanish irregular verbs. Most textbooks list around 30 high-frequency irregular verbs for the present tense, and the number grows once you include verbs derived from them, mantener from tener, deshacer from hacer, prevenir from venir. If regular verb endings are still shaky, our guide to the present tense of regular Spanish verbs is the natural place to start before tackling the irregular ones below. Saber, one of the irregular verbs above, is often confused with conocer, which sits in the -zco group above it: our saber vs conocer guide covers the difference in full.

Remember, in Spanish, we have to conjugate all verbs according to the person, tense, voice and mood. Let’s get started with the detail behind each pattern.

If you remember from our previous lesson about regular verbs, there are three types of infinitives in Spanish: verbs that end in -ar, -er, or -ir. Infinitives are made up of two parts: the stem and the ending. Below you will notice that the stem is written in italics and the ending is in bold:

• Caminar
• Correr
• Vivir

With regular verbs, the stem does not change when it is conjugated.

With many verbs in Spanish, the stem changes when you conjugate them, and this is what makes them irregular. In the present tense, we have three main groups of stem changing verbs (with some other exceptions that we will talk about later):

The three main groups of stem changing verbs are as follows:

• e → ie
• e → i
• o → ue

Irregular Conjugations as Used in Argentina

*You will notice in the above chart that the stem changes in the first person, third person singular and third person plural forms. That is to say: yo, él/ ella/ usted, ustedes y ellos/ ellas.

Irregular Conjugations as Used in Spain:

*Here you will notice that the stem changes in the first person, second person (which we can notice is different than the vos form used in Argentina which is not considered irregular), third person singular and third person plural forms. That is to say: yo, él/ ella/ usted, ustedes y ellos/ ellas.

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Below is a list of common stem changing verbs in Spanish:

Now that we have learned about basic stem changing verbs, we can take a look at some of the exceptions that we talked about earlier.

‘Irregulares Totales’ or Total Irregulars:

Audio for the conjugation of the verb ser in Argentina:

Audio for the conjugation of the verb ir in Argentina:

Audio for the conjugation of the verb ser in Spain:

Audio for the conjugation of the verb ir in Spain:

Now we are going to take a look at irregular verbs that only change their stems in the first person singular. There are three different changes that we make when conjugating these irregular verbs in the first person singular.

In the first category, we change the ending to y:

In the second category, we change the stem to g.

In the third category, we change the stem to zc.

Now that we have seen irregular stem changing verbs and total irregular verbs, we are going to take a look at the “irregulares mixtos” or mixed irregular verbs.

When dealing with ‘irregulares mixtos’ in Argentina, a -g is added when conjugating in the first person singular, and stem changes in the third person singular and plural.

Take a look at the examples below:

When in Spain, the same rules apply for ‘irregulares mixtos’ as in Argentina, but we must must also implement a stem change when talking in the second person, tú:

Finally, we are going to look at irregular stem changing verbs with y

In Argentina, the stem changes to -y in the first, third person singular, and third person plural form:

In Spain, the stem changes to -y in the first person, second person, and third person singular and plural:

Frequently asked questions about Spanish irregular verbs

What are the most common irregular verbs in Spanish?

Ser, estar, tener, ir, hacer, poder, querer, decir, saber, dar, poner and venir cover most everyday conversation. All twelve are in the reference table near the top of this guide, with full present-tense conjugations.

How many irregular verbs are there in Spanish?

There is no single official count. Most textbooks list around 30 high-frequency irregular verbs for the present tense, and the number grows once you count verbs built from them, like mantener (from tener) or deshacer (from hacer).

Is “tener” irregular in Spanish?

Yes. Tener is a “go verb”: the yo form (tengo) adds a g, and it also stem-changes from e to ie in tú, él/ella/usted, and ellos/ellas (tienes, tiene, tienen). See the -go row in the pattern table above.

What is the easiest way to learn Spanish irregular verbs?

Learn them by pattern group, not one at a time. Once you know that tener, poner, salir, hacer, decir and venir all just add a g in the yo form, you are learning six verbs at once instead of six separate lists. Two of the most commonly confused irregular verbs, ser and estar, both mean “to be”: our ser vs estar guide untangles when to use each one.

And that’s it! Now you just need to practice

With a little bit of practice, you will be an expert in no time! And if you have any doubts, be sure to join us at any of our schools but especially our Spanish School in Toronto!