Verbos irregulares

I. Verbos con raíz irregular (stem changing verbs). All of these verbs have a change on the last e or u after you take the ending away. Example: preferir. Take -ir off and you have prefer. The last e is the one that changes. We still have the regular -ar, -er, and -ir endings.

e-->i

pedir, seguir, conseguir, repetir, competir (to compete), medir (to measure, used to say how tall one is)

  

e-->ie

preferir, querer, empezar, comenzar, entender, pensar, perder, cerrar, sugerir (to suggest)

  

 

  

 

o-->ue

dormir, volver, almorzar, contar, encontrar, mostrar, poder, recordar, morir (to die)

 

Match the items. a b c d e f g h 1. I sleep in class.     a. Mis padres me muestran el dinero. a b c d e f g h 2. We come back with the food.     b. Encuentran una casa agradable. a b c d e f g h 3. She tells a story.     c. Volvemos con la comida. a b c d e f g h 4. They find a nice house.     d. Creo que puedo volar. a b c d e f g h 5. My parents show me the money.     e. Cuenta un cuento. a b c d e f g h 6. I believe I can fly.     f. Puedo tocar el piano. a b c d e f g h 7. A lot of mosquitos die in the summer.     g. Muchos mosquitos mueren en el verano. a b c d e f g h 8. I can play the piano.     h. Duermo en clase.

 

 

II. Verbos con la primera persona irregular (verbs with irregular yo form).

All of these verbs have the yo form ending with -go: tener = tengo, venir = vengo, salir = salgo, traer = traigo, hacer = hago, poner = pongo, susponer = supongo, oír = oigo, valer (to be worth)= valgo. There is a rule in Spanish about the "i." "I" cannot be between two vowels, because it changes to "y." Therefore, oír changes to: yo oigo, tú oyes, él/ella/usted oye, nosotros oímos, etc.

 

Match the items. a b c d e f g h i j 1. I go out with my friends.     a. Oigo música en clase. a b c d e f g h i j 2. I hear music in class.     b. Supongo que eres mi amigo. a b c d e f g h i j 3. I suppose you are my friend.     c. Salgo con mis amigos. a b c d e f g h i j 4. I do my homework.     d. Hago la tarea. a b c d e f g h i j 5. I make the bed.     e. Traigo la tarea a clase. a b c d e f g h i j 6. I put the books on the table.     f. Pongo la tarea en la mesa. a b c d e f g h i j 7. I put my homework on the table.     g. Hago la cama. a b c d e f g h i j 8. I bring my homework to class.     h. Pongo los libros en la mesa. a b c d e f g h i j 9. I bring nachos to the party.     i. Traigo nachos a la fiesta. a b c d e f g h i j 10. I put the tv on channel 12.     j. Pongo la tele en el canal 12.

 

 

III. There are two verbs that do not fit in any group: ir (to go) and ver (to see).

subject	ir	ver
yo	voy	veo
tú	vas	ves
usted/él/ella	va	ve
nosotros/nosotras	vamos	vemos
vosotros/vosotras	vais	veis
ustedes/ellos/ellas	van	ven

 

Ir is used in two structures in the book: ir + a + place/event and ir + a + infinitivo.

 

 

Match the items. a b c d e 1. I can do my homework.     a. Francisco quiere salir con Graciela. a b c d e 2. Francisco wants to go out with Graciela.     b. Francisco pone el libro en la mesa. a b c d e 3. Francisco puts his book on the table.     c. Puedo hacer la tarea. a b c d e 4. Can you hear me now?     d. ¿Puedes escuchar la música? a b c d e 5. Can you hear the music?     e. ¿Puedes oírme ahora?

return to top