Spanish Irregular Verbs: The List You Actually Need

Spanish irregular verbs fall into a few well-defined groups. If you teach them in groups, students learn the pattern once and apply it across many verbs. If you teach them as a flat alphabetized list, students learn 30 individual exceptions and forget half of them.

The groups below are how working teachers introduce irregulars. Stem-changers first, because they are the largest group. Then yo-form quirks, which trip up Spanish 1 students most. Then the fully irregular high-frequency verbs that students will use every day.

These verbs change e to ie in the stem in the four "boot" positions (yo, tu, el/ella/usted, ellos/ellas/ustedes). Nosotros and vosotros stay regular. The change happens in present indicative and present subjunctive.

High-frequency verbs in this group: querer (to want), pensar (to think), entender (to understand), preferir (to prefer), cerrar (to close), empezar (to begin), comenzar (to begin), perder (to lose), defender (to defend), sentir (to feel), mentir (to lie).

Teaching note: querer and pensar are the two students will see first and most often. Drill those until automatic, then introduce the pattern as the rule and the rest follow.

Same boot pattern, different vowel change. o to ue in the stem.

High-frequency verbs: poder (to be able to), dormir (to sleep), volver (to return), recordar (to remember), encontrar (to find), contar (to count, to tell), mostrar (to show), morir (to die), almorzar (to eat lunch), costar (to cost).

Teaching note: poder is one of the top ten most common Spanish verbs. Lead with it. The change to puedo, puedes, puede sticks fast because students hear it constantly.

These are -ir verbs only. The stem changes from e to i in the boot positions in present indicative.

High-frequency verbs: pedir (to ask for), servir (to serve), repetir (to repeat), seguir (to follow), conseguir (to obtain), elegir (to choose), corregir (to correct), reir (to laugh), sonreir (to smile), vestir (to dress).

Teaching note: students often confuse pedir (to ask for something) with preguntar (to ask a question). Drill the contrast directly. Pedir is the irregular one and the more useful one.

These verbs have an irregular yo form in present indicative but conjugate normally in the other five rows. Students hit this group hardest because the irregularity is concentrated in one form.

go-verbs (yo form ends in -go): tener (yo tengo), venir (yo vengo), poner (yo pongo), hacer (yo hago), decir (yo digo), salir (yo salgo), traer (yo traigo), oir (yo oigo), caer (yo caigo).

zco-verbs (verbs ending in -cer or -cir take -zco in yo): conocer (yo conozco), conducir (yo conduzco), traducir (yo traduzco), ofrecer (yo ofrezco), parecer (yo parezco).

Other yo quirks: saber (yo se), ver (yo veo), dar (yo doy), estar (yo estoy), ser (yo soy), ir (yo voy).

Teaching note: chunk these into go-verbs and zco-verbs and teach them together. Students can then predict new ones (e.g., obtener follows the tener pattern: yo obtengo).

A handful of verbs are irregular in nearly every form and tense. They are also the most common verbs in the language. Drill them to automaticity in Spanish 1 and they pay off forever.

• ser (to be, for identity and characteristics): soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son. Preterite: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron.
• estar (to be, for location and condition): estoy, estas, esta, estamos, estais, estan. Note the accents.
• ir (to go): voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van. Preterite is identical to ser preterite, which is the famous quirk.
• tener (to have): tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, teneis, tienen. Combines yo-form quirk + e to ie stem change.
• haber (to have, auxiliary): he, has, ha, hemos, habeis, han. Used to form perfect tenses.

The preterite has its own set of irregulars that are unrelated to the present-tense ones. Many are u-stems and i-stems with their own endings.

• u-stems: tener (tuve), estar (estuve), poder (pude), poner (puse), saber (supe), andar (anduve).
• i-stems: hacer (hice), querer (quise), venir (vine), decir (dije).
• j-stems: traer (traje), conducir (conduje), traducir (traduje), and the i-stem decir (dije).
• Fully unique: ser/ir share fui/fuiste/fue/fuimos/fuisteis/fueron. Dar takes -er/-ir endings: di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron.

The present subjunctive is built from the yo form of the present indicative, so any yo-form irregularity carries through. Tener (yo tengo) becomes subjunctive tenga, tengas, tenga, tengamos, tengais, tengan.

A small set of verbs are fully irregular in the subjunctive: ser (sea), estar (este), ir (vaya), saber (sepa), dar (de), haber (haya). These are the "DISHES" verbs in some textbooks.

Conjugation drills get a bad reputation because they are usually rote. They work when they are short, mixed, and connected to communicative output.

A useful sequence: start each class with a 90-second drill on one irregular verb in one tense. Mix in the previous day's verb every Monday. After two weeks, students have automatized 10 irregulars without anyone calling it a drill week.

For mixed practice, the Ser vs Estar Drill Generator and Spanish Subjunctive Practice tools both produce class-ready item sets with answer keys. Each set takes about ten minutes of class time and reinforces the pattern more efficiently than asking students to fill in a blank table.

Every verb in this article has its own chart available in the Spanish Verb Conjugation Chart Generator. Type the verb (in Spanish or English), pick a tense, and the chart renders with all six pronouns and irregular forms flagged.

It is free to use without signing up. Worksheet mode blanks out the conjugation column for student fill-in, and reference mode includes a teacher notes section. Both modes export to PDF for printing.