Introduction to irregular verbs in Spanish

When you are studying Spanish, one of the most frequent doubts is the irregular verbs. It is true that the conjugation of verbs in Spanish is somewhat complex.

Spanish has words that do not follow the rules of syntax for other words of the same type. For example, in Spanish, most verbs are conjugated to communicate information about when an action took place and who took the action.

Unless you already speak very good Spanish, it will be difficult at first to determine when a verb is irregular. If you are not sure, it may be useful to look at the words in the rest of the sentence. Once you identify and translate the nouns, adjectives and other words in the sentence, you can isolate the remaining words as potential verbs.


Irregular verbs in Spanish

An irregular verb is a verb that has particular or idiosyncratic conjugations depending on the tense or mode in which it is conjugated. It undergoes paradigm changes, since it takes on different desinences than those that are common to regular verbs.

In order to know if a verb is regular or irregular, it must be conjugated according to the model verbs (to love, to fear and to leave). It must be conjugated in the present, past perfect simple and future tenses. If the sound with which we pronounce the root changes or the desinences change, it is an irregular verb in Spanish.

Spelling changes to maintain the same sound are not considered irregularities. These are som examples:

Verbs finished in -car: pesqué, pescaste.

Verbs finished in -cer, -cir: vencí,, venzo.

Verbs finished in -gar: llegué, llegar.

Verbs finished in -guar: apacigüé, apaciguar.

Verbs finished in -zar: almorzar, almorcé.

In our Spanish classes we will teach you all the tricks to make it easier to understand irregular verbs. By following some basic rules it is easier to study.  We try to organize fun and dynamic classes for you to learn while having a good time.

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