Languages are fickle creatures. They lull you into a false sense of confidence by pretending to follow rules before doing an about-face and presenting you with an exception to said rule. It's frustrating. It's often counter-intuitive. But one thing it's not is insuperable. As far as I know, there isn't any trick to learning irregular verbs in Spanish. Memorization is key. The best way to go about this is to start with the most commonly used verbs, so in today's Spanish lesson, I'll give you the ten most common irregular verbs and how to conjugate them in the present tense. These verbs are "true" irregulars, meaning each conjugation deviates from what would be considered the norm.
- To be (in a permanent sense, i.e. to be American): ser (SEHR)
Yo: Soy
Tú: Eres (Eh-res)
Él/Ella/Usted: Es
Nosotros: Somos (SOH-mohs)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes: Son (SOHN)
- To have: tener (ten-EHR)
Yo: Tengo (TAYN-go)
Tú: Tienes (tee-EH-ness)
Él/Ella/Usted: Tiene (tee-EH-nay)
Nosotros: Tenemos (teh-NAY-mohs)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes: Tienen (tee-EH-nen)
- To be able to: poder (poh-DEHR)
Yo: Puedo (PWEH-doh)
Tú: Puedes (PWEH-des)
Él/Ella/Usted: Puede (PWEH-day)
Nosotros: Podemos (poh-DAY-mohs)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes: Pueden (PWEH-den)
- To go: ir (EAR)
Yo: Voy
Tú: Vas (VAHS)
Él/Ella/Usted: Va (VAH)
Nosotros: Vamos (VAH-mohs)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes: Van (VAHN)
- To want: querer (keh-RARE)
Yo: Quiero (key-EH-roh)
Tú: Quieres (key-EH-res)
Él/Ella/Usted: Quiere (key-EH-ray)
Nosotros: Queremos (keh-RAY-mohs)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes: Quieren (key-EH-ren)
The following verbs are ONLY irregular in the "yo" form of the present tense. The rest of the conjugations follow the regular conjugation rules, which can be found here.
- To do, make: hacer (ah-SEHR)
Yo: Hago (AH-go)
- To be (in a temporary sense, i.e. to be happy): estar (es-TAHR)
Yo: Estoy (es-TOY)
- To know (a fact): saber (sah-BEHR)
Yo: Sé (SAY)
- To know (a person or place): conocer (coh-noh-SEHR)
Yo: Conozco (coh-NOSE-coh)
- To say: decir (deh-SEAR)
Yo: Digo (DEE-go)
Please feel free to ask any questions you might have, or, if you know of a trick for mastering the irregulars, let us in on the secret!