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Spanish verbs are a complex area of Spanish grammar, with many combinations of tenses, aspects and moods (up to fifty conjugated forms per verb). While conjugation rules are relatively straightforward, a large number of verbs are irregular. Among these, some fall into more-or-less defined deviant patterns, while others are uniquely irregular. This article tries to summarize the common irregular patterns.

As in all Romance languages, many irregularities in Spanish verbs can be retraced to Latin grammar.

Contents 1 Vowel-alternating verbs 2 G-verbs 3 Anomalous stems 4 Others 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Vowel-alternating verbs

Vowel-alternating verbs, also known as stem-changing verbs, have two stems; one is the common infinitive stem (the one that serves to conjugate regular verbs) and the other derives from it by a vowel change. The change turns e into ie and o into ue when the syllable in question is stressed, which in effect happens only in the singular persons and third-person plural of the present indicative, present subjunctive, and present imperative. (Note that the dictionary form always has the vowel, not the diphthong, since in the infinitive form the stress is on the last syllable, i.e. on the thematic vowel.)

For example (only some persons and tenses, for contrasting purposes):

• acertar → yo acierto, tú aciertas, vosotros acertais, nosotros acertamos, ellos aciertan; que yo acierte; yo acerté, tú acertaste...
• soldar → yo sueldo, tú sueldas, vosotro soldais, nosotros soldamos, ellos sueldan; que yo suelde; yo soldé, tú soldaste...
• perder → yo pierdo, tú pierdes, vosotros perdeis, nosotros perdemos, ellos pierden; que yo pierda; yo perdí, tú perdiste...
• apostar → yo apuesto, tu apuestas, vosotros apostais, nosotros apostamos, ellos apuestan; que yo apueste; yo aposté, tú apostaste...
• moler → yo muelo, tú mueles, vosotros moleis, nosotros molemos, ellos muelen; que yo muela; yo molí, tú moliste...

To complicate matters further, vowel-alternating verbs in the third conjugation (-ir) furthermore change e to i and o to u in certain unstressed cases — the third person singular and plural of the preterite (and imperative, when the subjunctive is used as the imperative) and the first and second persons plural of the present subjunctive:

• mentir → yo miento, tú mientes, vosotros mentís, nosotros/nosotras mentimos, ellos mienten; que yo mienta, que nosotros mintamos; yo mentí, él mintió, nosotros mentimos...
• concebir → yo concibo, él concibe, nosotros concebimos; yo concebí, él concibió...

Many verbs with e or o in the root do not alternate (e.g. meter, comer, etc.), and they are often a source of mistakes for children learning to speak, and also for some adults.

• rebosar → *yo rebueso, *él rebuesa... instead of yo reboso, él rebosa...

[edit] G-verbs

The so-called G-verbs (sometimes "yo-go" verbs) add a medial -g- in the first person singular, present tense (-ig- when the root ends in a vowel). Many of these verbs are also irregular in other ways. For example:

poner: yo pongo, tú pones...

tener: yo tengo, tú tienes...

caer: yo caigo, tú caes...

traer: yo traigo, tú traes...

oír: yo oigo, tú oyes...

[edit] Anomalous stems

Some verbs (including most G-verbs) have a completely different stem in the preterite. This stem is anomalous also because it is stressed in some persons (while in all other cases the preterite gets the stress over the suffix). These stems are very old and are often found in Latin as well.

poner → pus-: yo puse, tú pusiste, él puso, nosotros pusimos...

estar → estuv-: yo estuve, tú estuviste, él estuvo, nosotros estuvimos...

hacer → hic-, hiz-: yo hice, tú hiciste, él hizo, nosotros hicimos...

andar → anduv-: yo anduve, tú anduviste, él anduvo, nosotros anduvimos...

conducir → conduj-: yo conduje, tu condujiste, él condujo, nosotros condujimos...

decir → dij-: yo dije, tú dijiste, él dijo, nosotros dijimos...

tener → tuv-: yo tuve, tú tuviste, él tuvo, nosotros tuvimos...

Some verbs also change their stem in the future and conditional tenses:

tener → tendr-: yo tendré, tú tendrás, él tendrá...

hacer → har-: yo haré, tú harás, él hará...

decir → dir-: yo diré, tú dirás, él dirá...

haber → habr-: yo habré, tú habrás, él habrá...

Yet, some other verbs take several different (but phonetically related) stems, in the most irregular fashion:

caber: yo quepo, tú cabes, vos cabés, él cabe...; yo cupe, tú cupiste, él cupo...

saber: yo sé, tú sabes...; yo supe, tú supiste...; yo sabía, tú sabías...; yo sepa, tú sepas

haber: yo he, tú has, él ha, nosotros hemos, vosotros habéis, ellos han

[edit] Others

The verbs 'ser' (to be) and 'ir' (to go) both exhibit irregularities in the present, imperfect and preterite tenses.

Present indicative tense				Imperfect indicative				Preterite
	ser	ir			ser	ir			ser	ir
yo	soy	voy		yo	era	iba		yo	fui	fui
tú	eres	vas		vos/tú	eras	ibas		vos/tú	fuiste	fuiste
vos	sos	vas
él, ella	es	va		él, ella	era	iba		él, ella	fue	fue
nosotros/as	somos	vamos		nosotros/as	éramos	íbamos		nosotros/as	fuimos	fuimos
vosotros/as	sois	vais		vosotros/as	erais	ibais		vosotros/as	fuisteis	fuisteis
ellos, ellas	son	van		ellos, ellas	eran	iban		ellos, ellas	fueron	fueron

[edit] References

[edit] External links

For a list of words relating to Spanish irregular verbs, see the Spanish irregular verbs category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

• Common irregular Spanish verbs and audio examples
• WebWorkbooks: 10,000 verbs conjugated with voice files.
• Spanish verb conjugatordon Quijote Spanish School