Spanish Irregular Verbs Practice

Q: Which Spanish verbs are irregular in the present tense?

The big three — ser (soy), estar (estoy) and ir (voy) — are irregular throughout. Then come the go-verbs with an irregular yo form (tengo, hago, pongo, salgo, traigo, digo, vengo, oigo) and a few one-offs: sé, conozco, veo, doy. Outside those forms, most of these verbs follow the regular endings.

Q: What are the go-verbs?

Verbs whose yo form ends in -go: tener → tengo, hacer → hago, poner → pongo, salir → salgo, traer → traigo, decir → digo, venir → vengo, oír → oigo. Apart from the yo form (and any stem change), the present tense is regular: haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen.

Q: Why do ser and ir have the same preterite?

Historical accident: both verbs ended up sharing fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. Context always tells you which one is meant — Fui médico is ser ("I was a doctor"), while Fui al médico is ir ("I went to the doctor").

Q: Do irregular preterites take accents?

No — that's the trap. Regular preterites stress the ending and need accents (hablé, comió), but irregular ones stress the stem and take none: tuve, hizo, estuvo, pude, puse, dije, vine, fue, di. Writing dijé, tuvé or fué is always wrong.

Q: When do I use hay and when está?

Use hay to say something exists, typically with indefinite or quantified nouns: Hay un banco en la plaza, Hay muchos coches. Use está/están to locate something specific and definite: El banco está en la plaza. If the noun comes with el/la or a name, you want está.

Q: Are these exercises free?

Yes. All 30 exercises run right in your browser, need no signup, and give you a clear explanation after every answer.

Question 1

Yo ___ de Madrid, ¿y tú?

Accepted Answer

soy. Ser is fully irregular: yo soy. For origin (where you're from) Spanish uses ser, never estar — so "estoy de Madrid" is the trap.

Question 2

___ muy cansado hoy, necesito dormir. (yo)

Accepted Answer

Estoy. Estar takes the irregular yo form estoy, and temporary states like being tired use estar, not ser — "soy cansado" would sound like a permanent trait.

Question 3

Yo ___ al gimnasio los lunes y los miércoles.

Accepted Answer

voy. Ir is completely irregular in the present: voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van. Nothing in the infinitive "ir" survives — you just memorize the v-forms.

Question 4

¿Adónde ___ vosotros de vacaciones este año?

Accepted Answer

vais. The vosotros form of ir is vais. "Van" is for ellos/ustedes, and "sois" comes from ser, not ir.

Question 5

Yo ___ dos hermanos y una hermana.

Accepted Answer

tengo. Tener is a go-verb: the yo form ends in -go, giving tengo. "Teno" misses the g, and "tiene" is the él/ella form.

Question 6

Yo ___ deporte tres veces por semana.

Accepted Answer

hago. Hacer has the irregular yo form hago. "Haco" and "hazo" are invented regularizations — only the -go ending is correct.

Question 7

Siempre ___ las llaves en el mismo sitio. (yo)

Accepted Answer

pongo. Poner is a go-verb: yo pongo. "Pono" forgets the g; every other form of poner is regular in the present (pones, pone, ponemos...).

Question 8

Yo ___ de casa a las ocho de la mañana.

Accepted Answer

salgo. Salir adds -go in the yo form: salgo. "Salo" treats the verb as regular — the trap every beginner falls into once.

Question 9

Hoy ___ yo el postre para la cena.

Accepted Answer

traigo. Traer keeps an i before the -go: traigo. Watch the trap "trago" — that's a real word, but it comes from tragar (to swallow).

Question 10

Yo siempre ___ lo que pienso.

Accepted Answer

digo. Decir is irregular twice: it adds -go AND changes e→i, giving digo. "Dico" applies only half the irregularity.

Question 11

Yo ___ a clase en bicicleta casi siempre.

Accepted Answer

vengo. Venir is a go-verb in the yo form: vengo. "Viene" is the él/ella form with the e→ie stem change — venir has both kinds of irregularity.

Question 12

No ___ nada con este ruido. (yo)

Accepted Answer

oigo. Oír takes the irregular yo form oigo. "Oyo" is the trap — the y appears in oyes and oye, but the yo form needs the -go.

Question 13

No ___ bien sin gafas. (yo)

Accepted Answer

veo. Ver is irregular only because it keeps the e of the old stem: veo. Don't over-apply the go-verb pattern — "veigo" and "vego" don't exist.

Question 14

Siempre le ___ las gracias al conductor del autobús. (yo)

Accepted Answer

doy. Dar has the irregular yo form doy — like soy, estoy and voy, it ends in -oy. "Da" is the él/ella form.

Question 15

No ___ la respuesta a esa pregunta. (yo)

Accepted Answer

sé. Saber has the one-off yo form sé, written with an accent to distinguish it from the pronoun se. "Sabo" is the classic regularized error.

Question 16

___ muy bien el centro de la ciudad. (yo)

Accepted Answer

Conozco. Verbs ending in vowel + -cer take -zco in the yo form: conozco. "Conosco" is the spelling trap — Spanish needs the z before the c.

Question 17

Mi hermana ___ veintidós años.

Accepted Answer

tiene. Tener is irregular twice over: tengo in the yo form, then e→ie elsewhere — tiene. "Tene" misses the stem change completely.

Question 18

Choose the correct pair: "Mis primos ___ mañana y ___ que quieren ir a la playa." (venir / decir)

Accepted Answer

vienen / dicen. Outside the yo form, venir changes e→ie (vienen) and decir changes e→i (dicen). Both verbs combine the -go yo form with a stem change.

Question 19

La fiesta de anoche ___ un éxito.

Accepted Answer

fue. A completed, one-time evaluation takes the preterite of ser: fue. Note there's no accent — "fué" is always wrong in modern Spanish.

Question 20

El verano pasado ___ a Portugal con mi familia. (yo)

Accepted Answer

fui. Ir has the irregular preterite fui, fuiste, fue — with no accents. "Fue" is the él/ella form, and "iba" is the imperfect, not a one-time trip.

Question 21

In "Anoche fuimos al teatro," which verb is fuimos from?

Accepted Answer

ir. Ser and ir share the exact same preterite forms, so only context decides. "Al teatro" expresses movement to a place, which makes fuimos come from ir.

Question 22

Ayer no ___ tiempo de llamarte. (yo)

Accepted Answer

tuve. Tener uses the irregular stem tuv- in the preterite: tuve, with no accent. "Tení" wrongly applies the regular -er pattern.

Question 23

¿Qué ___ Marta el fin de semana pasado?

Accepted Answer

hizo. Hacer uses the stem hic- in the preterite, and the third person changes the spelling to z: hizo. "Hació" applies the regular pattern, which is wrong.

Question 24

Mi padre ___ en Sevilla la semana pasada.

Accepted Answer

estuvo. Estar takes the irregular stem estuv- in the preterite: estuvo for él. "Estuve" is the yo form — watch who the subject is.

Question 25

No ___ dormir anoche por el calor. (yo)

Accepted Answer

pude. Poder takes the irregular stem pud- in the preterite: pude, with no accent. "Podí" is the regularized trap and "puedo" is the present.

Question 26

___ las llaves en el cajón y ahora no las encuentro. (yo)

Accepted Answer

Puse. Poner uses the irregular stem pus- in the preterite: puse for yo. "Puso" is the él/ella form and "poní" doesn't exist.

Question 27

Ya te lo ___ ayer: no puedo ir a la boda. (yo)

Accepted Answer

dije. Decir uses the stem dij- and, like all irregular preterites, takes NO accent: dije. "Dijé" copies the accent from regular forms like hablé — a classic trap.

Question 28

Ayer ___ a verte, pero no estabas en casa. (yo)

Accepted Answer

vine. Venir takes the irregular stem vin- in the preterite: vine, with no accent. "Vino" is the él/ella form (and also the word for wine).

Question 29

Choose the correct form: "Le ___ el regalo a mi madre el domingo." (yo, dar)

Accepted Answer

di. Dar has the tiny preterite di, diste, dio — and none of these forms takes an accent, because single-syllable preterites don't need one.

Question 30

Which sentence is wrong?

Accepted Answer

Está un banco en la plaza.. Use hay to say that something exists (un banco, muchos coches) and está/están to locate a specific, definite thing (el banco). "Está un banco" mixes the two systems.

Spanish Irregular Verbs Practice

The rule, in plain English.

Practice.

Other topics.

Present Tense Practice

Preterite Tense Practice

Stem-Changing Verbs Practice

Common questions.