The 10 most irregular Spanish verbs, and their patterns

The verbs you use most are also the most irregular. That sounds unfair, but it helps: their irregular forms follow a handful of shared patterns, so learning one teaches you several.

1–2. Ser and ir

These two are irregular almost everywhere, and in the preterite they are identical: fui, fuiste, fue. Context tells you whether "fue" means "he was" or "he went".

Fue un error.It was a mistake.

Fue a Madrid.He went to Madrid.

3–6. The "-go" verbs: tener, hacer, poner, venir

In the present, the yo form ends in -go: tengo, hago, pongo, vengo. Decir and salir do the same (digo, salgo). Learn this once and it carries straight into the present subjunctive: tenga, haga, ponga, venga.

The strong preterites

Tener, hacer, poner, venir, decir, poder, querer and saber all change their stem in the preterite and drop the accents: tuve, hice, puse, vine, dije, pude, quise, supe. The endings are shared: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron (or -eron after j: dijeron).

Tuve que irme.I had to leave.

Hizo frío.It was cold.

No quise molestar.I didn't want to bother anyone.

Short futures

Several of the same verbs shorten their stem in the future and conditional: tendré, haré, pondré, vendré, diré, podré, querré, sabré. The endings stay regular.

Te lo diré mañana.I'll tell you tomorrow.

7–10. Decir, poder, querer, saber

Poder and querer are also stem-changers in the present (puedo, quiero). Saber has an odd yo form, sé, with an accent to tell it apart from the pronoun se. Decir combines almost everything: digo, dije, diré, and the short command di.

How to learn them

Don't memorize ten separate tables. Learn the patterns above, then drill the ten verbs together in one practice session. Each verb page shows the changed letters in a darker colour so you can see exactly what breaks the rule.

Irregular commands

Eight common verbs have a short tú command: di (decir), haz (hacer), ve (ir), pon (poner), sal (salir), sé (ser), ten (tener), ven (venir). They're among the first things you'll hear in a Spanish kitchen or classroom.

Ven aquí.Come here.

Haz los deberes.Do your homework.

Pon la mesa, por favor.Set the table, please.

Irregular past participles

Hacer, decir, poner and several others also have irregular participles, which appear in every perfect tense: hecho, dicho, puesto, visto, escrito, vuelto, abierto, roto, muerto. "¿Qué has hecho?" (what have you done?) and "Ya te lo he dicho" (I've already told you) are everyday phrases.

Compound verbs follow their base

Verbs built on an irregular verb copy its irregular forms. Componer and suponer behave like poner (supongo, supuse); mantener, obtener and contener like tener (mantengo, mantuve); deshacer like hacer. Learn the ten here, and dozens more come for free.

Ir, ser and ver in the imperfect

In the imperfect, nearly every verb is regular. The only three exceptions are ir (iba), ser (era) and ver (veía), two of which are on this list.

A practice plan

• Day 1: the present tense yo forms (soy, voy, tengo, hago, digo…).
• Day 2: the strong preterites (tuve, hice, dije, pude…).
• Day 3: the short futures (tendré, haré, diré…) and commands.
• Then mix all ten verbs in one session until the irregular forms come out automatically.

Common mistakes

• Yo teno un perro. → Yo tengo un perro.

  Tener is a -go verb in the yo form.

• Ayer hací la cena. → Ayer hice la cena.

  Hacer has a strong preterite stem: hic-.

• Él hició los deberes. → Él hizo los deberes.

  The c changes to z before o to keep the sound.

• Mañana teneré tiempo. → Mañana tendré tiempo.

  Tener shortens its future stem to tendr-.

• Ellos dijieron que sí. → Ellos dijeron que sí.

  After j, the ending is -eron, not -ieron.

More examples

¿Puedes ayudarme?Can you help me?

No sé dónde está.I don't know where it is.

Vinieron todos mis amigos.All my friends came.

¿Dónde pusiste las llaves?Where did you put the keys?

Quiero ir contigo.I want to go with you.

Test yourself

1. Ayer yo ___ (tener) mucho trabajo.
   Show answer

   tuve
2. Mañana ___ (hacer, nosotros) una fiesta.
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   haremos
3. ¿Qué ___ (decir) ella ayer?
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   dijo
4. Yo no ___ (saber) la respuesta. (present)
   Show answer

   sé
5. ¡___ (venir, tú) conmigo!
   Show answer

   Ven
6. Ayer ellos ___ (venir) tarde.
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   vinieron
7. Yo ___ (poner) la mesa todos los días.
   Show answer

   pongo
8. ¿___ (poder, tú) venir mañana? (future)
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   Podrás