Irregular Verbs in Present Tense (Part 5)

In this topic we will we will learn and practice using more Irregular Spanish Verbs in Present Tense.

The majority of Spanish verbs in Present Tense are Regular Verbs. ‘Regular’ signifies that such verbs follow the same pattern and are conjugated (endings changed) in the same way. We learned the conjugation rules for Regular Verbs earlier in the course. This is great, but unfortunately there are also Irregular Spanish Verbs in Present Tense.

Irregular verbs do not follow the same one-size-fits-all, easy-to-learn patterns as the Regular verbs. With Irregular verbs you have to remember each specific conjugation. There are Irregular verbs in every tense (present, past, future, etc). In this topic we will look specifically at Irregular Spanish Verbs in Present Tense.

With Irregular Verbs it is helpful to group them into five categories. Each category is a collection of similarly Irregular Verbs that follow the same conjugation pattern. In this topic we will analyse the second of these categories.

Irregular Spanish verbs that are regular except in the first person (Yo)

The Irregular verbs we have learned so far were trickier to conjugate than the ones we will learn here as their verb endings were different for all persons except Nosotros/as and Vosotros/as. This final category of Irregular Verbs are only irregular in the first person (Yo). For the rest of the persons (Tú, Él, Ella, Nosotros/as, Vosotros/as, Ellos/as) all of the conjugations are regular.

Traducir: To translate
(Yo) Traduzco: I translate
A veces traduzco frases del inglés al español literalmente: Sometimes I translate sentences from English to Spanish literally.

Conocer: To know (people or places)
(Yo) Conozco: I know
No conozco a tu hermana: I don’t know your sister

Saber: To know (information)
(Yo) Sé: I know
No sé dónde está Sergio: I don’t know where Sergio is.

Dar: To give
(Yo) Doy: I give
Doy dinero a mi hijo todos los fines de semana: I give money to my son every weekend.

Salir: To go out
(Yo) Salgo: I go out
No salgo mucho últimamente: I don’t go out much lately.

Hacer: To do/To make
(Yo) Hago: I do
Hago yoga los lunes por la tarde: I do yoga on Monday afternoons.

Poner: To put
(Yo) Pongo: I put
Normalmente pongo azúcar en mi café: I usually put sugar in my coffee.

Ver: To see
(Yo) Veo: I see
Veo mucha gente en la calle: I see a lot of people on the street.

Caer: To fall
(Yo) Caigo: I fall
Siempre me caigo cuando salto: I always fall when I jump.

Caber: To fit
(Yo) Quepo: I fit
No quepo en el ascensor: I can’t fit in the elevator.

Traer: To bring
(Yo) Traigo: I bring
Traigo una tarta para celebrar mi cumpleaños: I bring a cake to celebrate my birthday.

To conjugate these verbs for the rest of the persons (Tú, Él, Ella, Nosotros/as, Vosotros/as, Ellos/as) we use the patterns to conjugate regular verbs which we learned earlier in the course:

Yo: -o
Tú: -as/-es
Él/Ella/Usted: -a/-e
Nosotros/as: -amos/-emos/-imos
Vosotros/as: -áis/-éis/-ís
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes: -an/-en

Let’s look more closely at two of these verbs

Dar: To give

(Yo) Doy: I give
(Tú) Das: You give
(Él/Ella) Da: He/She gives
(Nosotros/as) Damos: We give
(Vosotros/as) Dais: You give
(Ellos/Ellas): Dan: They give

Salir: To go out

(Yo) Salgo: I go out
(Tú) Sales: You go out
(Él/Ella) Sale: He/She goes out
(Nosotros/as) Salimos: We go out
(Vosotros/as) Salís: You go out
(Ellos/Ellas): Salen: They go out