If you’re feeling overwhelmed by Spanish irregular verbs, we’ve got bad and good news for you.
The bad news: Irregular verbs in Spanish are impossible to ignore. Almost all of the 12 most common verbs in Spanish have irregular conjugations, and they’re sure to come up in daily conversations.
The good news: Irregular verbs in Spanish aren’t nearly as difficult as they seem. To the untrained eye, it might seem as if there’s no rhyme or reason for their irregularities. But even irregular verbs follow some patterns, which you’ll be able to pick up quickly with a bit of practice.
In this guide, we’ll uncover the mysterious patterns of irregular verbs, give you tips on conjugating them, and provide a list of the 50 most common irregular verbs in Spanish.
Table of contents:
What are irregular verbs in Spanish?
Most verbs in Spanish follow a basic pattern for conjugation. These verbs are known as regular verbs since they all abide by the same rules. For instance, all regular Spanish -ar, -er, and -ir verbs in the present tense observe the conjugation patterns below:
| hablar (to talk) | leer (to read) | vivir (to live) | |
| yo I |
hablo | leo | vivo |
| tú you (informal) |
hablas | lees | vives |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
habla | lee | vive |
| nosotros we |
hablamos | leemos | vivimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
habláis | leéis | vivís |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
hablan | leen | viven |
Then, there are Spanish verbs that don’t follow the regular conjugation rules. These verbs are irregular.
But irregular verbs aren’t unique to Spanish. In fact, you can probably think of a few words in English that stick out to you as rulebreakers. To further illustrate the difference between regular and irregular verbs, let’s take a look at a few examples in English.
In English, there are many grammatical patterns that verbs follow. For instance:
- adding “-ed” to the end of a verb changes it to the simple past tense (Ex.: I laughed at the movie.)
- adding “-ing” to the end of a verb changes it to the present progressive tense (Ex.: I’m working on a new project.)
But many verbs in English don’t play by the rules. We see this happen often with common verbs in the simple past tense:
- I eat = I ate
- I swim = I swam
- I drive = I drove
These outliers are irregular verbs. Whether they’re in English or Spanish, verbs that don’t stick to the regular conjugation pattern are irregular verbs.
Why are there irregular verbs in Spanish?
While some irregular verbs in Spanish can be traced back to Latin grammar, no one purposely designs irregular verbs or plans for language irregularities. Scientists and linguists believe languages evolve with the speakers that use them, but earlier versions of the language—including their irregularities—often persist in commonly used words. The more a word is used by people, the less likely it is to change.
Over time, irregularities in languages develop and persist for a variety of reasons:
- Speed: Speakers often shorten the most commonly used words to make them quicker to pronounce.
- Sound: In order to preserve a specific pronunciation in a very phonetic language like Spanish, the spelling may need to change. You might find that irregular verbs sound better and are easier to pronounce than they would be if they were conjugated regularly.
- Frequency: Highly used irregular verbs are more likely to remain irregular, whereas less common irregular verbs slowly adopt regular patterns or fade away.
How to conjugate Spanish irregular verbs
While most verbs in Spanish are regular, irregular verbs are actually the most commonly used words in conversations and daily life. So if you want to communicate effectively in Spanish, it’s essential to not only recognize which Spanish verbs are irregular, but also know what their irregularities are.
Luckily, learning to conjugate irregular verbs in Spanish isn’t as scary as it sounds. Because irregular verbs are so prevalent in everyday conversations, learners often pick them up simply through exposure. With time and practice, you’ll be able to conjugate and use irregular verbs in Spanish without missing a beat.
And while irregular verbs are known for being irregular, you’ll find that they still follow some sort of conjugation pattern if you look closely! For example, many irregular verbs will have spelling changes but still follow regular verb endings. And no matter how weird an irregular verb is, you can expect that the nosotros (first-person plural) form will always follow the regular conjugation and end in -mos. Knowing how to look for these shortcuts will make irregular verb conjugation much easier.
Top 10 most common irregular verbs in Spanish
Before diving into the different types of Spanish irregular verbs, let’s first look at the most important ones to learn. The following irregular verbs come up in basic conversations and are essential to know if you want to get by in Spanish.
Here’s a list of 10 of the most frequently used irregular verbs and their conjugated forms in the present and simple past (preterite) tenses.
1. ser: to be (permanent quality)
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
soy | fui |
| tú you (informal) |
eres | fuiste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
es | fue |
| nosotros we |
somos | fuimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
sois | fuisteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
son | fueron |
2. estar: to be (emotion, location, temporary state)
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
estoy | estuve |
| tú you (informal) |
estás | estuviste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
está | estuvo |
| nosotros we |
estamos | estuvimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
estáis | estuvisteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
están | estuvieron |
3. tener: to have
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
tengo | tuve |
| tú you (informal) |
tienes | tuviste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
tiene | tuvo |
| nosotros we |
tenemos | tuvimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
tenéis | tuvisteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
tienen | tuvieron |
4. haber: to have (auxiliary verb)
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
he | hube |
| tú you (informal) |
has | hubiste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
ha | hubo |
| nosotros we |
hemos | hubimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
habéis | hubisteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
han | hubieron |
5. hacer: to do, to make
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
hago | hice |
| tú you (informal) |
haces | hiciste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
hace | hizo |
| nosotros we |
hacemos | hicimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
hacéis | hicisteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
hacen | hicieron |
6. ir: to go
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
voy | fui |
| tú you (informal) |
vas | fuiste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
va | fue |
| nosotros we |
vamos | fuimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
vais | fuisteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
van | fueron |
7. saber: to know
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
sé | supe |
| tú you (informal) |
sabes | supiste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
sabe | supo |
| nosotros we |
sabemos | supimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
sabéis | supisteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
saben | supieron |
8. dar: to give
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
doy | di |
| tú you (informal) |
das | diste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
da | dio |
| nosotros we |
damos | dimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
dais | disteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
dan | dieron |
9. decir: to say, to tell
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
digo | dije |
| tú you (informal) |
dices | dijiste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
dice | dijo |
| nosotros we |
decimos | dijimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
decís | dijisteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
dicen | dijeron |
10. poder: to be able to, to can
| Present | Preterite | |
| yo I |
puedo | pude |
| tú you (informal) |
puedes | pudiste |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
puede | pudo |
| nosotros we |
podemos | pudimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
podéis | pudisteis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
pueden | pudieron |
Spanish irregular verbs by category: Stem-changing verbs
As we mentioned previously, even the most irregular verbs in Spanish have some regular patterns to them. To make them easier to learn, we’ve categorized the irregular verbs in Spanish into groups.
The first and most common group of Spanish irregular verbs are stem-changing verbs. A stem change refers to when the irregular changes occur in the stem of the verb (the prefer- in preferir) while the verb ending (the -ir in preferir) follows the regular conjugation pattern.
Let’s look at preferir (to prefer) as an example. To conjugate a regular -ir verb in the yo form, you’d simply replace the -ir ending with -o.
So if you didn’t know preferir was an irregular verb, you’d probably expect it to look like this:
- Incorrect: Yo prefero el color rosado.
But, preferir is actually an irregular verb with an e → ie stem change. So, the e turns into ie, and the correct form is:
- Correct: Yo prefiero el color rosado.
Spanish stem-changing verbs from e → ie
The first common stem change in irregular verbs is the e to ie stem change. Here is a list of the most prevalently used Spanish irregular verbs with this type of stem change.
We’ve provided the conjugated present tense forms for the first verb in the list and bolded the stem change. The rest of the verbs follow the same pattern and should be easy to figure out. Note that stem changes do not occur in the nosotros (first-person plural) and vosotros/as (second-person plural) forms.
If you want to double-check your conjugation, you can look up the verb in a reliable Spanish dictionary, such as SpanishDict.
See what the e → ie stem change looks like with cerrar:
| Present | |
| yo I |
cierro |
| tú you (informal) |
cierras |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
cierra |
| nosotros we |
cerramos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
cerráis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
cierran |
- cerrar: to close
- empezar: to begin
- entender: to understand
- mentir: to lie
- negar: to deny
- pensar: to think
- perder: to lose
- recomendar: to recommend
- sentir: to feel
- sugerir: to suggest
Spanish stem-changing verbs from o → ue
Another type of stem change in irregular verbs is the o to ue stem change.
Below is a list of the most frequently used o → ue stem-changing verbs. We’ve only highlighted the stem change in the first verb, but the rest of the list follows the same pattern.
See what the o → ue stem change looks like with contar:
| Present | |
| yo I |
cuento |
| tú you (informal) |
cuentas |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
cuenta |
| nosotros we |
contamos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
contáis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
cuentan |
- contar: to count, to tell
- costar: to cost
- doler: to hurt
- dormir: to sleep
- encontrar: to find
- llover: to rain
- morder: to bite
- morir: to die
- recordar: to remember
- volver: to return from somewhere
Spanish stem-changing verbs from e → i
The third and last category of stem-changing verbs are verbs with the e to i stem change. Here is a list of the most frequently used Spanish irregular verbs with this type of stem change. Again, we’ve bolded the stem change as it occurs in the first verb of the list.
See what the e → i stem change looks like with competir:
| Present | |
| yo I |
compito |
| tú you (informal) |
compites |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
compite |
| nosotros we |
competimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
competís |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
compiten |
- competir: to compete
- conseguir: to get, to obtain
- corregir: to correct
- despedir: to dismiss, to say goodbye
- elegir: to choose
- medir: to measure
- repetir: to repeat
- seguir: to follow, to continue
- servir: to serve
- pedir: to ask for, to order
Other stem-changing verbs
This final group of stem-changing verbs consists of verbs that don’t quite fit into any of the above categories. While they may stand out as outliers, they’re still frequently used and good to know for everyday conversations.
31. jugar: to play (u → ue)
| Present | |
| yo I |
juego |
| tú you (informal) |
juegas |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
juega |
| nosotros we |
jugamos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
jugáis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
juegan |
32. oler: to smell (o → hue)
| Present | |
| yo I |
huelo |
| tú you (informal) |
hueles |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
huele |
| nosotros we |
olemos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
oléis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
huelen |
33. inquirir: to inquire (i → ie)
| Present | |
| yo I |
inquiero |
| tú you (informal) |
inquieres |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
inquiere |
| nosotros we |
inquirimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
inquirís |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
inquieren |
Spanish irregular verbs by category: Changes in the yo form
Other than stem-changing verbs, another type of Spanish irregular verbs are those with irregular yo (first-person singular) forms. These verbs are irregular only in the yo form, and the rest of the forms are either regular or have a stem change.
Below is a list of common irregular yo verbs and their present tense conjugations. In addition to the following verbs, scroll back to our list of top 10 most common irregular verbs and see if you can spot which verbs have an irregular yo form in the present tense! (Hint: There are seven.)
34. conocer: to know
| Present | |
| yo I |
conozco |
| tú you (informal) |
conoces |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
conoce |
| nosotros we |
conocemos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
conocéis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
conocen |
35. poner: to put
| Present | |
| yo I |
pongo |
| tú you (informal) |
pones |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
pone |
| nosotros we |
ponemos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
ponéis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
ponen |
36. salir: to leave
| Present | |
| yo I |
salgo |
| tú you (informal) |
sales |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
sale |
| nosotros we |
salimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
salís |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
salen |
37. traer: to bring
| Present | |
| yo I |
traigo |
| tú you (informal) |
traes |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
trae |
| nosotros we |
traemos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
traéis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
traen |
38. ver: to see
| Present | |
| yo I |
veo |
| tú you (informal) |
ves |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
ve |
| nosotros we |
vemos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
veis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
ven |
39. venir: to come
| Present | |
| yo I |
vengo |
| tú you (informal) |
vienes |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
viene |
| nosotros we |
venimos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
venís |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
vienen |
40. oír: to hear
| Present | |
| yo I |
oigo |
| tú you (informal) |
oyes |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
oye |
| nosotros we |
oímos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
oís |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
oyen |
41. caber: to fit
| Present | |
| yo I |
quepo |
| tú you (informal) |
cabes |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
cabe |
| nosotros we |
cabemos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
cabéis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
caben |
42. caer: to fall
| Present | |
| yo I |
caigo |
| tú you (informal) |
caes |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
cae |
| nosotros we |
caemos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
caéis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
caen |
43. valer: to be worth
| Present | |
| yo I |
valgo |
| tú you (informal) |
vales |
| él, ella, usted he, she, you (formal) |
vale |
| nosotros we |
valemos |
| vosotros, vosotras you all (informal, Spain only) |
valéis |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes they, you all (formal) |
valen |
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