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Spanish (Spain)

### The only three irregular verbs

When learning a new tense, you might brace yourself for a long list of irregular verbs. But you're in luck! The Spanish imperfect tense has exactly three irregular verbs: **ser**, **ir**, and **ver**. That's it!

Since the imperfect is used to set the scene and describe how things used to be, these three verbs are essential for talking about history and ancient civilizations. Let's look at them one by one.

### Ser (to be)

The verb **ser** is completely irregular in the imperfect. Notice that there is only one accent mark, which falls on the **nosotros/nosotras** form.

| Pronoun | ser |
| --- | --- |
| yo | era |
| tú | eras |
| él/ella/usted | era |
| nosotros/nosotras | éramos |
| vosotros/vosotras | erais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | eran |

You will use **era** and **eran** all the time to describe what empires, emperors, and gods were like in antiquity.

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### Ir (to go)

To conjugate **ir**, you will use the root **ib-** and add endings that look very similar to the regular **-ar** endings (**-aba**). Just like with **ser**, the only accent mark is on the **nosotros/nosotras** form.

| Pronoun | ir |
| --- | --- |
| yo | iba |
| tú | ibas |
| él/ella/usted | iba |
| nosotros/nosotras | íbamos |
| vosotros/vosotras | ibais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | iban |

Use these forms to talk about where people used to go, or to describe what they were "going to" do (**ir a** + infinitive). 

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### Ver (to see)

The verb **ver** is barely irregular. Instead of dropping the **-er** entirely like a regular verb, it keeps the **e** and then adds the standard **-ía** endings. 

| Pronoun | ver |
| --- | --- |
| yo | veía |
| tú | veías |
| él/ella/usted | veía |
| nosotros/nosotras | veíamos |
| vosotros/vosotras | veíais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | veían |

Because it uses the standard **-er** endings, every single form of **ver** in the imperfect has an accent mark over the **í**.

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Now you are ready to combine all three irregular verbs to describe ancient worlds!

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Irregular verbs in the imperfect (era, iba, veía)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular subjects and 'ser' (yo soy, esto es)

Plural nouns and definite articles (los, las)

Plural pronouns and 'ser' (somos, sois, son)

Adjective agreement (-o, -a, -os, -as)

Indefinite articles (un, una, unos, unas)

Simple negation (no)

Yes/no questions

Regular '-ar' verbs (-o, -as, -a...)

Regular '-er' verbs (-o, -es, -e...)

Regular '-ir' verbs (-o, -es, -e...)

Locative adverbs (aquí, allí)

Question words (quién, cómo)

The verb estar (estoy, estás)

The preposition en (en)

Ser vs. estar

The verb tener (tengo, tienes)

Possessive determiners (mi, tu, su)

Origin and possession (de, del)

The verb ir (voy, vas)

Destination (a, al)

The personal 'a' (a)

Stem-changing verbs: e to ie

Stem-changing verbs: o to ue

Irregular first-person verbs

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, dos, tres)

Numbers 11 to 20 (once, doce, trece)

Counting by tens to 100 (treinta, cuarenta, cien)

Compound numbers up to 99 (veintiuno, treinta y uno)

Days of the week (el lunes, el martes)

The family and the personal 'a' (a mi tío, a mi prima)

Months of the year

Telling time (es la, son las)

Verbs of liking (me gusta)

Plural agreement with verbs of liking (gustan)

Degree modifiers (muy, mucho)

Formal address (usted, ustedes)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

Obligation (tener que)

Present continuous (-ando, -iendo)

Affirmative commands (tú, vosotros)

Basic Food and Drink

The Human Body: Head and Arms

The Human Body: Legs and Health

Wardrobe Essentials

Fresh Produce

Meals and Proteins

Public Transport

Hello and goodbye (hola, ¿qué tal?)

Thank you, sorry, OK (gracias, vale)

There is, there are (hay)

My building (la escalera, el ascensor)

Describing people (moreno, rubio, tímido)

Land and sea (el mar, el río, el norte)

Sightseeing (la plaza, la catedral)

Asking the way (cerca, a la derecha, todo recto)

In class (¿puedes repetir?)

Verb + infinitive (quiero comer, sé leer)

What's your name? (me llamo, encantado)

Phone, computer and email

Hundreds and thousands (doscientos, mil)

What do you do? (¿a qué te dedicas?)

Personal details (la edad, la fecha de nacimiento)

Me neither (también, tampoco, ni)

How much is it? (el precio, la vuelta)

What's the weather like? (hace sol, nieva)

Free time (el concierto, el tenis)

At the bar (¿qué vas a tomar?)

The Natural World

Demonstratives (este, ese, aquel)

Prepositions of place (encima de, debajo de)

Prepositional pronouns (para mí, contigo)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero to décimo)

Adverbs of frequency (a veces, nunca)

Exclamations (¡qué...!)

Indefinite pronouns (algo, alguien)

Indefinite determiners (algún, ningún)

Indirect object pronouns (le, les)

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

Double object pronouns (se lo, se la)

Verbs of preference (encantar, interesar)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Starting and finishing actions (empezar a, terminar de)

Adjective comparatives (más que, menos que)

Comparatives of equality (tan como)

Noun comparatives (tanto como)

Question	Answer
the empire	el imperio
Roman	romano
The Roman empire was very big.	El imperio romano era muy grande.
the empress	la emperatriz
powerful	poderoso
The empress was very powerful.	La emperatriz era muy poderosa.
the emperor	el emperador
Greek	griego
The emperor used to go to the Greek temple.	El emperador iba al templo griego.
the statue	la estatua
the goddess	la diosa
The queen saw the statue of the goddess every day.	La reina veía la estatua de la diosa todos los días.
the god	el dios
The Greek gods were powerful.	Los dioses griegos eran poderosos.
to fight	luchar
I used to see the men fight.	Yo veía a los hombres luchar.
We used to go to the Roman palace.	Íbamos al palacio romano.
No god was more powerful than her.	Ningún dios era más poderoso que ella.
The emperor brought the statue to the palace.	El emperador trajo la estatua al palacio.
You always used to go see the empire.	Siempre ibais a ver el imperio.
The goddess was beautiful and saw everything.	La diosa era bonita y lo veía todo.
The empress was going to fight.	La emperatriz iba a luchar.

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