029 Spanish Irregularities in Regular Verbs

Some verbs have vowel changes in the present tense for all forms except first and second person plural.  After dropping the endings (-ar, -er, or -ir), the e of the last syllable changes to ie, and o of the last syllable changes to ue.  Some -ir verbs change the e to i, while verbs ending in -uir change the i to y for all forms except first and second plural.

e to ie

pensar – to think
querer – to want, like, love
cerrar – to close
comenzar – to begin
despertar – to awaken
empezar – to begin
entender – to understand
perder – to lose
preferir – to prefer
sentar – to seat
sentir – to regret, feel

 

o to ue

contar – to count
poder – to be able
costar – to cost
dormir – to sleep
encontrar – to find, meet
jugar – to play
morir – to die
mostrar – to show
volar – to fly
volver – to return

 

e to i

pedir – to ask (for)
repetir – to repeat
seguir – to follow
servir – to serve
vestir – to dress

ui to uy

construir – to build

 

A few other verbs are irregular only in the first person singular form. The rest of the forms follow the regular pattern:

traer               to carry                  traigo              I carry

salir                to go out                salgo                I go out

hacer              to do                      hago                I do

saber              to know                                      I know

dar                 to give                   doy                  I give

ver                  to see                     veo                  I see

tener              to have                  tengo               I have

poner             to put                     pongo              I put

decir               to say                     digo                 I say

valer               to be worth            valgo               I am worth

caer                to fall                     caigo               I fall

conocer          to know                 conozco           I know

deducir          to deduce              deduzco          I deduce

Generally, verbs that end in -cer and -cir add z before the first person singular ending.

 

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One response to “029 Spanish Irregularities in Regular Verbs

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