31 Verbs with irregular “yo” forms
Intro:
With the verbs “tener” and “venir” we saw that the “yo” forms have a “-go” ending, while the other conjugations do not have a “g” in them. “Estar” ends in “-oy” for the “yo” form but the other conjugations—accents aside—are what you would expect for an -ar ending verb. In fact, there are a number of verbs that have something different in the “yo” form, but a common characteristic of these verbs is that the irregularity occurs only in the “yo” form. The other forms of these verbs conjugate as expected.
Yo form ends in -go
Let’s begin by looking at the most common verb in this category: “hacer” (to do, to make). “Hacer” is practical because of its two meanings, and because it is the second verb to talk about plans: What are you going to do? We have to do more. He needs to make preparations. What does she want to make?
Hacer: to do; to make
| Subject pronouns | Singular | Basic meaning | Subject pronouns | Plural | Basic meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hago | I do, make | nosotros/as | hacemos | we do, make |
| tú | haces | you do, make | vosotros/as | hacéis | you do, make (Sp.) |
| él | hace | he does, makes | ellos | hacen | they do, make |
| ella | hace | she does, makes | ellas | hacen | they do, make (f) |
| Ud. | hace | you do, make | Uds. | hacen | you do, make |
OJO: Let’s take a moment to review other possible meanings for a verb in the present tense, using just the “tú” form.
Alternative meanings: hacer
| Subject pronoun | Hacer: to do, to make | Basic meaning | Other possible meanings: _-ing / questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| tú | haces | you do | you’re doing / do you do? |
| tú | haces | you make | you’re making / do you make? |
English has the auxiliary “do” and the verb “to do” and so to make a question both are used at times. However, in Spanish, the verb is simply conjugated in the correct form: “tú” in the example below:
| ¿Cuándo haces tu tarea? | When do you do your homework? |
| Hago mi tarea por la noche. | I do my homework at night. |
Let’s move on to other common verbs with the -go ending for the “yo” form.
| Infinitiveà | Poner: | Salir: | Traer: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject pronouns | to put, to place | to leave, to go out | to bring |
| yo | pongo | salgo | traigo -igo (extra “i ) |
| tú | pones | sales | traes |
| él | pone | sale | trae |
| ella | pone | sale | trae |
| Ud. | pone | sale | trae |
| nosotros | ponemos | salimos | traemos |
| vosotros | ponéis | salís | traéis |
| ellos | ponen | salen | traen |
| ellas | ponen | salen | traen |
| Uds. | ponen | salen | traen |
| No queremos hacer nuestra tarea. | We don’t want to do our homework. |
| Yo traigo comida a la fiesta. | I’m bringing food to the party. |
| Ana sale con su novio. | Ana is going out with her boyfriend. |
| ¿Qué haces con ellos? | What are you doing with them? |
| ¿Dónde pongo los libros? | Where do I put the books? |
| ¿Quién va a traer a los niños? | Who is going to bring the kids? |
| ¿A qué hora sales de tu trabajo? | (At) what time do you leave work? |
| Yo no salgo hasta las seis. | I don’t get off (leave) until six. |
| ¿Qué tienes que hacer mañana? | What do you have to do tomorrow? |
| No tengo nada que hacer. | I don’t have anything to do. |
Other verbs with -go for “yo” ending:
| caer | to fall: similar to “traigo”, so “caigo” (I fall) |
| decir | to say, to tell: digo |
| oir | to hear: additional changes: (oigo, oyes, oye, oímos, oís, oyen) |
| suponer | to suppose: supongo |
| valer | to be worth: valgo |
¿Cómo se dice…?:
Now you try out some sentences: use the verbs from the charts above to translate the sentences below.
Some vocabulary you might need: cada = every; que = that; suficiente = enough; antes de = before; conmigo = with me; anything = nada (for #10 below)
- I don’t bring my books to class every day.
- Do you go out with your friends Friday nights?
- I suppose that we have enough time.
- ¿How much is it worth?
- I do my homework before class.
- Where do we put the tables?
- Who is bringing Carlos home today?
- Why do they do their homework on Sundays?
- Do you want to go out with me? (tú)
- I don’t hear anything.
Traducciones:
- No traigo mis libros a clase cada día.
- ¿Sales con tus amigos los viernes por la noche?
- Supongo que tenemos suficiente tiempo.
- ¿Cuánto vale?
- Hago mi tarea antes de clase.
- ¿Dónde ponemos las mesas?
- ¿Quién trae a Carlos a casa hoy?
- ¿Por qué hacen su tarea los domingos?
- ¿Quieres salir conmigo?
- No oigo nada.
Grammar Details:
#2 from above: ¿Sales con tus amigos los viernes por la noche?
Did you remember to use “los” with “viernes”? To express, “on” a day of the week, Spanish uses the word “the”. In this case “Friday nights” is plural, so the plural form “los” is used.
#3 from above: Supongo que tenemos suficiente tiempo.
The word “que” (not to be confused with the question word “qué”) without the accent mark over the “e” means “that” and is used to join to two phrases together. If you can insert the word “that” between two phrases in English, then you must insert “que” in Spanish. For example, “I think she’s right” can also be expressed “I think that she’s right”. In Spanish, the equivalent would have to have “que”: Creo que ella tiene razón.
#7 from above: ¿Quién trae a Carlos a casa hoy?
Did you remember to insert the personal “a” before “Carlos”?
#8 from above: ¿Por qué hacen su tarea los domingos?
The singular possessive “su” is used even though “their” seems plural. “Su” always agrees with the noun that follows.
#9 from above: ¿Quieres salir conmigo?
Subject pronouns are used after the preposition “con” (with):
| con él | with him |
| con nosotras (f) | with us |
| con ellos | with them |
| con Uds. | with you (pl) |
Exception: the subject prounouns “yo” and “tú” are not used after “con”; rather:
| conmigo | with me |
| contigo | with you |
#10 from above: No oigo nada.
Mathematicians tell us that two negatives make a positive, but in Spanish using two negatives is good grammar! “Nada” means “nothing”, so literally what you’re saying here is “I don’t hear nothing”. Your English grammar teacher would take off points for that, while the Spanish teacher says “¡muy bien!” for the equivalent en español.