Ir in the Present | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

Ir ("to go") is one of the most useful verbs in the language. It is short, highly irregular, and does double duty as the building block for talking about the near future.

Conjugation

Subject	Conjugation
yo	voy
tú	vas
él / ella / usted	va
nosotros / nosotras	vamos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	van

Notice that none of the forms even look like the infinitive — ir has no "i" anywhere in its present conjugation. Instead, the stem is v-, and the forms follow the same shape as ser and dar in the yo form.

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The historical explanation: ir's present tense actually comes from a different Latin verb, vadere, which contributed the v- stem. That's why voy, vas, va look unrelated to ir.

Movement: going somewhere

The most basic use of ir is to express movement toward a destination. The preposition a ("to") follows almost every time.

Voy a la tienda.

I'm going to the store.

¿Vas al cine esta noche?

Are you going to the movies tonight?

Ella va a la escuela en bicicleta.

She goes to school by bike.

Nosotros vamos a la playa en verano.

We go to the beach in summer.

Ir + a + infinitive: the near future

The single most useful pattern built on ir is ir + a + infinitive. It is the Spanish equivalent of "going to" do something in English, and it expresses future intentions or plans.

Voy a estudiar esta tarde.

I'm going to study this afternoon.

¿Qué vas a hacer mañana?

What are you going to do tomorrow?

Van a viajar a México el próximo mes.

They are going to travel to Mexico next month.

Notice that the infinitive stays unchanged. Only ir gets conjugated. This construction is extremely common in everyday speech — often more common than the simple future tense.

Vamos: "let's go"

The nosotros form vamos also works as a command: "let's go."

¡Vamos al parque!

Let's go to the park!

It can even be combined with an infinitive to mean "let's (do something)":

Vamos a comer.

Let's eat.

This double-duty usage sometimes confuses learners — is vamos a comer "we are going to eat" or "let's eat"? Context decides, and usually both readings make sense.

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Irse (the reflexive form) means "to leave" in the sense of departing from a place: me voy = "I'm leaving." It contrasts with plain voy, which needs a destination.

Going by a means of transport

Use en with modes of transport:

Voy en autobús al trabajo.

I go to work by bus.

The exception is a pie ("on foot"), which uses a:

Voy a pie. → I'm going on foot.

Common mistakes

❌ Yo vo a la tienda.

Wrong: the yo form is voy, not vo.

✅ Yo voy a la tienda.

Correct: voy is the full yo form.

❌ Vamos ir al cine.

Wrong: missing the preposition a between ir and the infinitive.

✅ Vamos a ir al cine.

Correct: ir + a + infinitive for the near future.

❌ Voy a el parque.

Wrong: a + el must contract to al.

✅ Voy al parque.

Correct: al is the required contraction.

❌ Ella va a la escuela en pie.

Wrong: the expression is a pie, not en pie.

✅ Ella va a la escuela a pie.

Correct: a pie means on foot.

See also the page on present tense for future actions for more on expressing the future in Spanish.