Common Spanish Irregular Verbs: List and Sentences

Hello and welcome to a new lesson. Previously, we learned about regular verbs in Spanish in the present indicative. This time, we will introduce a list of common irregular verbs in Spanish through beautiful pictures and explain how to conjugate them in the present tense too. We have included many sample sentences, simple explanations and interactive quizzes that will surely allow you to learn a thing or two about this topic. Let’s start…

Video Introduction: The basics about irregular verbs in Spanish

Spanish irregular verbs are really common in the language, so to use them we must memorize their conjugations. Some of them will change their form for a few pronouns and stay the same for others, but most of the time they will have an unpredictable behavior. Here is a video explaining more about irregular verbs in Spanish and giving some specific examples.

What are Spanish irregular verbs? – Los verbos irregulares

Spanish irregular verbs, los verbos irregulares, are a special type of verbs that do not follow conjugation rules like regular verbs do. For a typical regular verb like “ESTUDIAR”, we know that the conjugations or forms for each pronoun are predictable based on the rules for “-AR” ending verbs, so we could say “Yo estudio“, “Tú estudias“, “Él estudia” and so on. On the contrary, an irregular verb ending in -AR like CONTAR won’t follow the same pattern a regular verb like ESTUDIAR for one or more pronouns, which makes it an irregular verb.

The irregular verb SER, for instance, will be conjugated as SOY for the subject pronoun YO, very different to the form “SO” which would be the conjugation if it were regular.

Correct: Yo soy tu amigo. (I am your friend.)
Incorrect: Yo so tu amigo.

How to identify and conjugate irregular verbs in Spanish

Common irregular verbs in Spanish in the present tense

There are lots of irregular verbs in Spanish besides SER, ESTAR and the others listed in the image above. Later, we will see some examples of sentences using Spanish irregular verbs for you to see that they are important in everyday conversations, and that there is no way to master the language without spending time on them. Check this short list of common Spanish irregular verbs. Click on play to listen to the conjugations.

Tener – Yo tengo, tú tienes, él tiene, nosotros tenemos, vosotros tenéis, ellos tienen

To have – I have, you have, he has, we have, you have, they have

Dar – Yo doy, tú das, él/ella da, nosotros damos, vosotros dais, ellos/ustedes dan

To give – I give, you give, he/she gives, we give, you give, they/you give

Hacer – Yo hago, tú haces, él hace, nosotros hacemos, vosotros hacéis, ellos hacen

To do – I do, you do, he does, we do, you do, they do

Caer – Yo caigo, tú caes, él cae, nosotros caemos, vosotros caéis, ellos caen

To fall – I fall, you fall, he falls, we fall, you fall, they fall

Salir – Yo salgo, tú sales, ella sale, nosotros salimos, vosotros salís, ellos salen

To go out – I go out, you go out, she goes out, we go out, you go out, they go out

Saber – Yo sé, tú sabes, él sabe, nosotros sabemos, vosotros sabéis, ellos/ustedes salen

To know – I know, you know, he knows, we know, you know, they know

Ver – Yo veo, tú ves, él ve, nosotros vemos, ustedes, ellos ven

To see – I see, you see, he sees, we see, you see, they see

As you can see in the previous chart above, Spanish irregular verbs do change radically. For instance, the verb “Saber” (to know), would be normally conjugated as “Yo sabo” if it were regular, but since it is an irregular verb, we must memorize its forms first and then say “Yo sé” instead. Take a look at these sentences:

Correct: María tiene una casa muy linda. (Maria has a very beautiful house.)
Incorrect: María tene una casa muy linda. (if we followed the rules for regular verbs)
Correct: Los niños van a la escuela todos los días. (The kids go to school every day.)
Incorrect: Los niños ir a la escuela todos los días. (Not possible to find a suitable conjugation as a regular verb)

A list of common irregular verbs in Spanish

Next, we show you a list of twenty other important irregular in their infinitive form through pictures. Remember that some of these verbs will change partially and others radically once you conjugate them in any tense, so tools like this conjugation website for verbs always come handy. We will see some of them in use through sentences later. For now, try to get the meaning of each verb from the drawings.

Here are some examples of sentences using some of these Spanish irregular verbs:

Sentences with Spanish irregular verbs
HACER – Ellos hacen sus tareas solos. They do their homework by themselves
SABER – Yo sé que tú tienes la razón. I know you’ve got the reason
CABER – Creo que yo no quepo en el auto. Hay demasiada gente. I think I don’t fit in the car. There is too many people.
DECIR – Ella dice que es mala idea salir a esta hora. She says that it’s a bad idea to go out right now.
OIR – ¿Qué es eso? – Yo no oigo nada. What’s that? – I don’t hear anything.

Interactive quiz:

Key Spanish irregular verbs in Spanish

The verb ESTAR (to be) in the present tense

ESTAR is a pretty common irregular verb, and it is actually one of the first ones you should add to your list of Spanish irregular verbs. ESTAR is one of the forms of “the verb to be” and it is particularly useful to talk about states, feelings and emotions, actions in progress and to indicate the location of objects. If ESTAR were regular, then for the pronoun YO, we would say [EST + O], but it is irregular, so it will actually be conjugated as ESTOY as in “Yo estoy“.

The chart below shows the conjugations for the Spanish irregular verb ESTAR as well as some sentences in the present tense in Spanish with this verb. Pay attention to the correct pronunciation of the verb. Please check the related lesson to learn more about this verb.

Sentences with the conjugations of ESTAR
Yo estoy enojado I am angry
Tú estás/Vos estás ocupada todo el tiempo You are busy all the time
Él/Usted/ Ella – Ella está haciendo su tarea He/you/She is doing her homework
Nosotros estamos felices de estar aquí We are happy to be here.
¿Vosotros estáis enfermos? Are you sick?
Ellos, Ustedes – ¿Ustedes están tomando clases de español? Are you taking Spanish classes?

Conjugating SER (to be) in the present tense

SER is the second form of the verb to be, and it is also one of the most common Spanish irregular verbs. Unlike ESTAR, SER is used to describe things like rooms and parts of the house, to describe people, to talk about time, nationalities and many other things. SER will change completely for some pronouns. The chart below shows how to conjugate the irregular verb SER and make present tense sentences in Spanish for all pronouns.

Sentences with the conjugations of SER
Yo soy tu hermano I am your brother
Tú eres muy inteligente You are very smart
Vos sos mi mejor amigo You are my best friend
Él, Ella, Usted – Usted es mi maestro favorito. You are mi favorite teacher
Nosotros somos de Japón We are from Japan
Vosotros sois tan talentosos. You are so talented
Ustedes/Ellos – ¿Ellos son tus amigos? Are they your friends?

Conjugating IR (to go) in the present tense

IR (to go) is another common verb you should really know how to use. It can be used in simple sentences in the present tense in Spanish or as an auxiliary for the future tense, especially for making future plans just like the structure “going to” in English. As you may suspect, the verb IR like other Spanish irregular verbs, will change totally when conjugated for all the pronouns. The chart below shows how to conjugate IR.

Sentences with the conjugations of IR (to go)
(Yo) voy a la casa de mis padres casa fin de semana I go to my parent’s house every weekend
Tú vas al cine cada jueves You go to the movies every Thursday
Ella, Él, Usted – Él va a terminar eso mañana. He is going to finish that tomorrow
Nosotros vamos a la playa en verano We go to the beach in summer
¿Vosotros váis ahí a menudo? Do you go there often?
Ellos/Ustedes – Ellos van a jugar hoy. They are going to play today