Irregular verbs differ from regular verbs in that they undergo alterations or variations in the stem or depart from the standard way of conjugating a verb. Unlike regular verbs, which maintain a consistent stem and follow a standard conjugation pattern across different subject pronouns, irregular verbs exhibit changes in their stems and verb endings, for one or more subject forms (‘yo’, ‘tú’, ‘él’, ‘ella’, ‘usted’, ‘nosotros/nosotras’, ‘vosotros/vosotras’, ‘ellos/ellas’ and ‘ustedes’).
It is important to note that these verbs follow similar verb conjugation patterns i.e., ‘-ar’, ‘-er’ and -ir’ verb patterns for the various subject pronouns. The difference is that while regular verbs change only the endings to agree with the subject, irregular verbs change their stems along with the endings (conjugations).
It is both challenging and interesting to know that there is no way to identify if a verb is regular or irregular, and even if you know a verb is irregular, it is not always possible to identify what kind of stem change the verb undergoes. Using such irregular forms correctly in conversation will require a lot of practice.
There are seven broad categories of irregular verbs. The explanations for each category will help you understand how to conjugate verbs that undergo various stem changes.
The categories are as follows:
- Stem changes (e>ie, o>ue, e>i, u>ue).
- ‘Go forms’ in the first person and stem changes with ‘go forms’.
- ‘Guir’ ending verbs.
- ‘Ger/gir’ ending verbs.
- ‘Cer/cir’ ending verbs.
- ‘uir’ ending verbs.
- Completely irregular verbs.
Check out the different categories of verbs below.
If you want to check out our article on the concept of verb conjugations and regular verbs click here.
For more exercises on irregular forms of verbs please click here. There are a number of exercises you can practice from the link, including stem changes and ‘go’ forms.