Spanish E to I and Others present tense Spanish Verb Conjugation

The final set of irregular verbs is kind of a mixture of many different groups. The first group is made up of verbs whose stems change from “e” to “i”. This time, the “yo” form of the verbs is irregular, but as usual, the nosotros form likes to stay regular – in other words, the “e” doesn’t change to “i”. Vosotros, used only in Spain, also likes to stay regular.

Spanish mini-course

Let’s take a look at these Spanish stem changing verbs:

all forms: Yo, Ud. etc... nosotros – regular
The verb changes to:
[consegu][ir] consigo, consigue, etc. conseguimos
[ped][ir] pido, pide, etc. pedimos
[repet][ir] repito, repite, etc. repetimos
[serv][ir] sirvo, sirves, etc. servimos
[segu][ir] sigo, sigues seguimos

Now let’s briefly review the verb “ir” or “to go”. Remember, what’s in the parenthesis is optional.

I go (Yo) Voy We go (Nosotros) Vamos
(Juan) You go (Tú) Vas    
He goes (Él) Va They go (males) (Ellos) Van
She goes (Ella) Va They go (females) (Ellas) Van
(Mrs. Vasquez) you go (Ud.) Va All of you go (Uds.) Van

Remember, if you put a verb after “voy”, you have to put an “a” afterwards. For example, the phrase “I’m going to eat” would be “Voy a comer” and the phrase “She’s going to run” would be “(Ella) Va a correr”. Now we’ll take a look at the verb “to hear” or “oír”:

I hear (Yo) Oigo We hear (Nosotros) Oímos
(Juan) You hear (Tú) Oyes
He hears Oye They hear (males) Oyen
She hears They hear (females)
(Mrs. Vasquez) you hear All of you hear

The next irregular just adds an accent on all forms except the “nosotros” form since it likes to stay regular (or unchanged). It’s the verb “to continue” or in Spanish “continuar”.

continúo continuamos
continúas (continuáis)
continúa continúan

The next two irregular verbs add a “y” in certain locations. Look and notice where the “y” is: The first one is “to destroy” or in Spanish “destruir”

destruyo destruimos
destruyes (destruéis) – check spelling
destruye destruyen

This next verb is “to include” or in Spanish “incluyo”

incluyo incluimos
incluyes (incluéis) – check spelling
incluye incluyen

The final two verbs in this irregular section are “Ser” and “Estar” which you learned in Level I. Remember that “Ser” is used to describe permanent characteristics like “tall” or “interesting”. The verb “estar” is used to describe temporary characteristics like “happy” or “frustrated”.

We’ll start with “ser”

soy somos
eres (sois)
es son

Now on to "estar"

estoy estamos
estás (estáis)
Está están

Spanish Practice Session

Now let’s practice these verbs before going on to the next lesson. As I’ve mentioned before, the best way to learn them is to become familiar with how they look and repeat them a few times.

Let’s begin the quiz:

I ask for… pido
She asks for… pide
We ask for… pedimos
I get consigo
He gets consigue
We get conseguimos
(Juan) You  repeat repites
They repeat repiten
We repeat repetimos
(Juana) You serve sirves
(All of you) serve sirven
We serve servimos
(Mrs. Méndez) You follow sigue
They follow siguen
We follow seguimos
They hear oyen
I hear oigo
We hear oímos
They go van
(José) You go vas
We go vamos
(All of you) continue continúan
She continues continúa
We continue continuamos
I don’t destroy no destruyo
He doesn’t destroys no destruye
We don’t destroy no destruimos
She doesn’t includes no incluye
They don’t include no incluyen
We don’t include no incluimos
I am (permanent) Soy
She is (permanent) Es
We are (permanent) Somos
I am (temporary) Estoy
He is (temporary) Está
We are (temporary) Estamos