Spanish irregular verbs
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Spanish verbs are a complex area of Spanish grammar, with many combinations of tenses, aspects and moods (up to fifty conjugated forms per verb). While conjugation rules are relatively straightforward, a large number of verbs are irregular. Among these, some fall into more-or-less defined deviant patterns, while others are uniquely irregular. This article tries to summarize the common irregular patterns.
As in all Romance languages, many irregularities in Spanish verbs can be retraced to Latin grammar.
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[edit] Stem-vowel changes
There are two kinds of changes that can affect stem vowels of some Spanish verbs: diphthongization and vowel raising. Both changes affect -e- or -o- in the last (or only) syllable of a verb stem. Diphthongization changes -e- to -ie-, and -o- to -ue-. Vowel raising changes the mid vowels -e- and -o- to the corresponding high vowels: -i- and -u- respectively. Some verbs, in their various forms, can exhibit both kinds of changes (e.g. sentir, siente, sintió; dormir, duerme, durmió).
[edit] Diphthongization
Some verbs with -e- or -o- in their stem[1] are inherently diphthongizing, while others are not: their identities must be learned individually. In a diphthongizing verb, the change turns -e- into -ie- and -o- into -ue- when the syllable in question is stressed, which in effect happens only in the singular persons and third-person plural of the present indicative and present subjunctive, and in the imperative (all other tenses and forms are stressed on their endings, not their stems). (Note that the dictionary form always has the vowel, not the diphthong, since, in the infinitive form, the stress is on the ending, not the stem.)
The following examples show that all three conjugations (-ar, -er, and -ir verbs) include some diphthongizing verbs (only some tenses and persons are shown, for contrasting purposes):[2]
[edit] Present indicative
| Verbs | Yo | Tú | Vos | Él / Ella / Usted | Nosotros / Nosotras | Vosotros / Vosotras | Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pensar | pienso | piensas | pensás | piensa | pensamos | pensáis | piensan |
| contar | cuento | cuentas | contás | cuenta | contamos | contáis | cuentan |
| perder | pierdo | pierdes | perdés | pierde | perdemos | perdéis | pierden |
| moler | muelo | mueles | molés | muele | molemos | moléis | muelen |
| sentir | siento | sientes | sentís | siente | sentimos | sentís | sienten |
| dormir | duermo | duermes | dormís | duerme | dormimos | dormís | duermen |
[edit] Present subjunctive
| Verbs | Yo | Tú | Vos | Él / Ella / Usted | Nosotros / Nosotras | Vosotros / Vosotras | Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pensar | piense | pienses | pensés | piense | pensemos | penséis | piensen |
| contar | cuente | cuentes | contés | cuente | contemos | contéis | cuenten |
| perder | pierda | pierdas | perdás | pierda | perdamos | perdáis | pierdan |
| moler | muela | muelas | molás | muela | molamos | moláis | muelan |
| sentir | sienta | sientas | sientas | sienta | sentamos | sentáis | sientan |
| dormir | duerma | duermas | duermas | duerma | durmamos | durmáis | duerman |
Many verbs with -e- or -o- in the root do not alternate.[3] Less frequent verbs of this kind are often a source of mistakes for children learning to speak, and also for some adults.
- rebosar → *yo rebueso, *él rebuesa... instead of yo reboso, él rebosa...
[edit] Vowel raising
Vowel raising appears only in verbs of the third conjugation (-ir verbs), and in this group it affects virtually[4] all verbs with -e- or -o- in their stems (e.g. sentir, repetir, dormir). The forms that exhibit the change can be described negatively as those in which the stem vowel is not diphthongized and the ending does not contain stressed /í/.[5]
In effect, for diphthongizing verbs (e.g. sentir, dormir), this means
- the third person singular and plural of the preterite (sintió, sintieron, durmió, durmieron);
- the first and second persons plural of the present subjunctive (sintamos, sintáis, durmamos, durmáis); and
- the gerund (sintiendo, durmiendo).
For non-diphthongizing verbs (e.g. pedir) it affects these same forms (pidió, pidieron, pidamos, pidáis, pidiendo), plus the remaining forms of the present subjunctive (pida, pidas, pidan) and, in the present indicative, all singular forms and the third-person plural (pido, pides, pide, piden) — but not the first- and second-person plural (pedimos, pedís), because these forms have stressed /í/ in their endings.
[edit] G-verbs
The so-called G-verbs (sometimes "go-verbs" or "yo-go" verbs) add a medial -g- (-ig- when the root ends in a vowel) in the first person singular, present tense, as well as in all persons of the present subjunctive. Many of these verbs are also irregular in other ways. For example:
- poner: yo pongo, tú pones...
- tener: yo tengo, tú tienes...
- caer: yo caigo, tú caes...
- traer: yo traigo, tú traes...
- oír: yo oigo, tú oyes...
- venir: yo vengo , tú vienes...
- hacer: yo hago, tú haces...
- salir: yo salgo, tú sales...
- valer: yo valgo, tú vales...
[edit] Anomalous stems
Some verbs (including most G-verbs) have a completely different stem in the preterite. This stem is anomalous also because it is stressed in some persons (while in all other cases the preterite gets the stress over the suffix). These stems are very old and often are found in Latin as well.
- poner → pus-: yo puse, tú pusiste, él puso, nosotros pusimos...
- estar → estuv-: yo estuve, tú estuviste, él estuvo, nosotros estuvimos...
- hacer → hic-, hiz-: yo hice, tú hiciste, él hizo, nosotros hicimos...
- andar → anduv-: yo anduve, tú anduviste, él anduvo, nosotros anduvimos...
- conducir → conduj-: yo conduje, tu condujiste, él condujo, nosotros condujimos...
- decir → dij-: yo dije, tú dijiste, él dijo, nosotros dijimos...
- tener → tuv-: yo tuve, tú tuviste, él tuvo, nosotros tuvimos...
Some verbs also change their stem in the future and conditional tenses:
- tener → tendr-: yo tendré, tú tendrás, él tendrá...
- hacer → har-: yo haré, tú harás, él hará...
- decir → dir-: yo diré, tú dirás, él dirá...
- haber → habr-: yo habré, tú habrás, él habrá...
Yet, some other verbs take several different (but phonetically related) stems, in the most irregular fashion:
- caber: yo quepo, tú cabes, vos cabés, él cabe...; yo cupe, tú cupiste, él cupo...
- saber: yo sé, tú sabes, vos sabés,...; yo supe, tú supiste...; yo sabía, tú sabías...; yo sepa, tú sepas
- haber: yo he, tú has, él ha, nosotros hemos, vosotros habéis, ellos han
[edit] Others
The verbs 'ser' (to be) and 'ir' (to go) both exhibit irregularities in the present, imperfect and preterite forms.
| Present indicative tense | Imperfect indicative | Preterite | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ser | ir | ser | ir | ser | ir | |||||
| yo | soy | voy | yo | era | iba | yo | fui | fui | ||
| tú | eres | vas | vos/tú | eras | ibas | vos/tú | fuiste | fuiste | ||
| vos | sos | vas | ||||||||
| él, ella | es | va | él, ella | era | iba | él, ella | fue | fue | ||
| nosotros/as | somos | vamos | nosotros/as | éramos | íbamos | nosotros/as | fuimos | fuimos | ||
| vosotros/as | sois | vais | vosotros/as | erais | ibais | vosotros/as | fuisteis | fuisteis | ||
| ellos, ellas | son | van | ellos, ellas | eran | iban | ellos, ellas | fueron | fueron | ||
[edit] References
- ^ Exceptionally, the -u- of jugar and the -i- of adquirir also are subject to diphthongization (juega, etc.; adquiere, etc.).
- ^ Additional diphthongizing verbs include acordar(se), divertir(se), doler, empezar, encontrar, entender, llover, morir, mostrar, mover, poder, probar, querer, recordar, sentar(se), tener, venir, volar, and volver.
- ^ Common non-diphthongizing verbs include acercar(se), beber, comer, comprar, conocer, correr, creer, deber, decir, dejar, entrar, esperar, lamentar, llegar, llevar, meter, parecer, poner, prometer, quedar, regresar, responder, seguir, suceder, temer, and tomar.
- ^ The verbs oír and abolir do not undergo vowel raising.
- ^ Terrell, Tracy D., and Salgués de Cargill, Maruxa, Lingüística aplicada a la enseñanza del español a anglohablantes (New York: Wiley, 1979), p. 97.
[edit] External links
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For a list of words relating to Spanish irregular verbs, see the Spanish irregular verbs category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Onoma Spanish conjugator. It provides information about the irregularities and conjugates invented verbs.
- Common irregular Spanish verbs and audio examples
- WebWorkbooks: 10,000 verbs conjugated with voice files.
- Spanish verb conjugator don Quijote Spanish School
- Online Spanish verb conjugation Free online Spanish verb conjugation
- Spanish conjugation Spanish conjugator. 12,000 verbs conjugated.
