UNIT FOUR
Unit 4 Present tense of some common irregular verbs
Not all verbs follow the same pattern as those explained in Unit 3 and unfortunately there
is no short cut – you simply have to learn these as you come across them. Many of these
verbs are in common use, so you will soon become familiar with them.
Here are some of the most common irregular verbs. They are set out in the six persons
explained in Unit 3:
ir tener ser estar
to go to have to be to be
voy tengo soy estoy
vas tienes eres estás
va tiene es está
vamos tenemos somos estamos
vais tenéis sois estáis
van tienen son están
The difference between these two verbs is explained later in this unit and more fully in
Unit 8.
The following verbs are only irregular in the first person singular, and after that they
follow the same pattern as regular verbs:
dar to give doy, das, da, damos, etc.
hacer to make/to do hago, haces, hace, etc.
poner to put pongo, pones, pone, etc.
saber to know sé, sabes, sabe, etc.
conocer* to know conozco, conoces, conoce, etc.
*The difference between these two verbs is explained later in this unit.
Other verbs ending in -cer and -cir follow the same pattern as conocer in the first
person singular:
e.g. parecer (to seem) parezco
conducir (to drive) conduzco
traducir (to translate) traduzco
producir (to produce) produzco