MozhiLingo
via
Learning
← All lessons
Lesson 23A1

Common Irregular 'Yo' Verbs

Common Irregular 'Yo' Verbs

A large group of everyday Spanish verbs are perfectly regular for every subject except 'I' — a narrow, predictable kind of irregularity English doesn't really have an equivalent for.

Grammar Comparison

Grammar Comparison

Irregular only in the 'yo' form

Spanish

hacer: hago, haces, hace, hacemos, hacen — only hago breaks the regular pattern

English

make/makes: I make, you make, he makes — English's own irregularity (adding -s) falls on he/she/it instead

Verbs like hacer (to make/do), poner (to put), salir (to leave), and traer (to bring) are entirely regular except for a special first-person-singular form: hago, pongo, salgo, traigo. Interestingly, English concentrates its own present-tense irregularity in the opposite person — the third-person -s exception — so both languages have exactly one irregular slot in the present tense, just in different places.

Once you know the 'yo' form, the rest is predictable

Spanish

salgo, sales, sale, salimos, salen — after the irregular salgo, every other form just uses the regular -ir endings

English

no equivalent pattern — English's -s exception is the only irregular slot in either direction

The useful part: once you memorize the irregular yo form, every other person conjugates completely normally from the infinitive. This makes these verbs far more predictable than they first look — you're only memorizing one unusual piece per verb, not a whole irregular conjugation.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

hagoAH-goh
English
I make / I do
pongoPOHN-goh
English
I put
salgoSAHL-goh
English
I leave / I go out
traigoTRY-goh
English
I bring
vengoVEN-goh
English
I come
tengoTEN-goh
English
I have
digoDEE-goh
English
I say
conozcokoh-NOHS-koh
English
I know (a person/place)
veoVEH-oh
English
I see
seh
English
I know (a fact)