Spanish irregular verbs
Encyclopedia
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
.
. Both changes affect -e- or -o- in the last (or only) syllable of a verb stem. Diphthongization changes -e- to -ie-, and -o- to -ue-. Vowel raising changes the mid vowel
s -e- and -o- to the corresponding high vowels
: -i- and -u- respectively. Some verbs, in their various forms, can exhibit both kinds of changes (e.g. sentir, siente, sintió; dormir, duerme, durmió).
In a diphthongizing verb, 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 and present subjunctive, and in the imperative (all other tenses and forms are stressed on their endings, not their stems). (Note that the dictionary form always has the vowel, not the diphthong
, since, in the infinitive form, the stress is on the ending, not the stem.)
The following examples show that all three conjugations (-ar, -er, and -ir verbs) include some diphthongizing verbs (only some tenses and persons are shown, for contrasting purposes):
Many verbs with -e- or -o- in the root do not alternate. Less frequent verbs of this kind are often a source of mistakes for children learning to speak, and also for some adults.
The forms that exhibit the change can be described negatively as those in which the stem vowel is not diphthongized and the ending does not contain stressed /í/.
In effect, for diphthongizing verbs (e.g. sentir, dormir), this means
For non-diphthongizing verbs (e.g. pedir) it affects these same forms (pidió, pidieron, pidamos, pidáis, pidiendo), plus the remaining forms of the present subjunctive (pida, pidas, pidan) and, in the present indicative, all singular forms and the third-person plural (pido, pides, pide, piden) — but not the first- and second-person plural (pedimos, pedís), because these forms have stressed /í/ in their endings.
. 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 often are found in Latin
as well.
Some verbs also change their stem in the future and conditional tenses:
Yet, some other verbs take several different (but phonetically related) stems, in the most irregular fashion:
, imperfect and preterite
forms.
Spanish verbs
Spanish verbs are one of the most complex areas of Spanish grammar. Spanish is a relatively synthetic language with a moderate-to-high degree of inflection, which shows up mostly in the verb conjugation....
are a complex area of Spanish grammar
Spanish grammar
Spanish grammar is the grammar of the Spanish language , which is a Romance language that originated in north central Spain and is spoken today throughout Spain, some twenty countries in the Americas, and Equatorial Guinea....
, with many combinations of tenses, aspects and moods (up to fifty conjugated forms per verb). While conjugation
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
rules are relatively straightforward, a large number of verbs are irregular
Irregular verb
In contrast to regular verbs, irregular verbs are those verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation in the languages in which they occur. The idea of an irregular verb is important in second language acquisition, where the verb paradigms of a foreign language are learned...
. 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
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
, many irregularities in Spanish verbs can be retraced to Latin grammar
Latin grammar
The grammar of Latin, like that of other ancient Indo-European languages, is highly inflected; consequently, it allows for a large degree of flexibility in choosing word order...
.
Stem-vowel changes
There are two kinds of changes that can affect stem vowels of some Spanish verbs: diphthongization and vowel raisingClose vowel
A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...
. Both changes affect -e- or -o- in the last (or only) syllable of a verb stem. Diphthongization changes -e- to -ie-, and -o- to -ue-. Vowel raising changes the mid vowel
Mid vowel
A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel...
s -e- and -o- to the corresponding high vowels
Close vowel
A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...
: -i- and -u- respectively. Some verbs, in their various forms, can exhibit both kinds of changes (e.g. sentir, siente, sintió; dormir, duerme, durmió).
Diphthongization
Some verbs with -e- or -o- in their stem are inherently diphthongizing, while others are not: their identities must be learned individually.In a diphthongizing verb, 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 and present subjunctive, and in the imperative (all other tenses and forms are stressed on their endings, not their stems). (Note that the dictionary form always has the vowel, not the diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
, since, in the infinitive form, the stress is on the ending, not the stem.)
The following examples show that all three conjugations (-ar, -er, and -ir verbs) include some diphthongizing verbs (only some tenses and persons are shown, for contrasting purposes):
Present indicative
| Verbs | Yo | Tú | Vos | Él / Ella / Usted | Nosotros / Nosotras | Vosotros / Vosotras | Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pensar | pienso | piensas | pensás | piensa | pensamos | pensáis | piensan |
| contar | cuento | cuentas | contás | cuenta | contamos | contáis | cuentan |
| perder | pierdo | pierdes | perdés | pierde | perdemos | perdéis | pierden |
| moler | muelo | mueles | molés | muele | molemos | moléis | muelen |
| sentir | siento | sientes | sentís | siente | sentimos | sentís | sienten |
| dormir | duermo | duermes | dormís | duerme | dormimos | dormís | duermen |
Present subjunctive
| Verbs | Yo | Tú | Vos | Él / Ella / Usted | Nosotros / Nosotras | Vosotros / Vosotras | Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pensar | piense | pienses | pensés | piense | pensemos | penséis | piensen |
| contar | cuente | cuentes | contés | cuente | contemos | contéis | cuenten |
| perder | pierda | pierdas | perdás | pierda | perdamos | perdáis | pierdan |
| moler | muela | muelas | molás | muela | molamos | moláis | muelan |
| sentir | sienta | sientas | sientas | sienta | sentamos | sentáis | sientan |
| dormir | duerma | duermas | duermas | duerma | durmamos | durmáis | duerman |
Many verbs with -e- or -o- in the root do not alternate. Less frequent verbs of this kind 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...
Vowel raising
Vowel raising appears only in verbs of the third conjugation (-ir verbs), and in this group it affects virtually all verbs with -e- or -o- in their stems (e.g. sentir, repetir, dormir).The forms that exhibit the change can be described negatively as those in which the stem vowel is not diphthongized and the ending does not contain stressed /í/.
In effect, for diphthongizing verbs (e.g. sentir, dormir), this means
- the third person singular and plural of the preterite (sintió, sintieron, durmió, durmieron);
- the first and second persons plural of the present subjunctive (sintamos, sintáis, durmamos, durmáis); and
- the gerund (sintiendo, durmiendo).
For non-diphthongizing verbs (e.g. pedir) it affects these same forms (pidió, pidieron, pidamos, pidáis, pidiendo), plus the remaining forms of the present subjunctive (pida, pidas, pidan) and, in the present indicative, all singular forms and the third-person plural (pido, pides, pide, piden) — but not the first- and second-person plural (pedimos, pedís), because these forms have stressed /í/ in their endings.
G-verbs
The so-called G-verbs (sometimes "go-verbs" or "yo-go" verbs) add a medial -g- (-ig- when the root ends in a vowel) in the first person singular, present tense, as well as in all persons of the present subjunctive. 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...
- venir: yo vengo , tú vienes...
- hacer: yo hago, tú haces...
- salir: yo salgo, tú sales...
- valer: yo valgo, tú vales...
Anomalous stems
Some verbs (including most G-verbs) have a completely different stem in the preteritePreterite
The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...
. 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 often are found in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
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, vos sabés,...; 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
Others
The verbs 'ser' (to be) and 'ir' (to go) both exhibit irregularities in the presentPresent tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
, imperfect and preterite
Preterite
The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...
forms.
| 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 |
External links
- Onoma Spanish conjugator. It provides information about the irregularities and conjugates invented verbs.
- Common irregular Spanish verbs and audio examples
- WebWorkbooks: 10,000 verbs conjugated with voice files.
- Spanish verb conjugator don Quijote Spanish School
- Online Spanish verb conjugation Free online Spanish verb conjugation
- Spanish conjugation Spanish conjugator. 12,000 verbs conjugated.