Spanish Irregular Verbs in the Present Tense: Tengo, Hago, Voy

Some of the verbs you need most in Spanish — to have, to do, to go, to know — don't follow the regular pattern in the present tense. The good news is that they are less chaotic than they look. For most of them the endings stay regular and only some forms change — often just the yo form. This guide groups eight very common verbs into three patterns, so you learn what changes and what stays the same.

Three patterns

Before the tables, here is the big picture. Each verb in this guide belongs to one of three groups:

Only the yo form is irregular

Hacer, poner, salir. These three have a -g- in the yo form: hago, pongo, salgo. In hacer, c changes to g; poner and salir add g to the stem. Their other present-tense forms follow the regular -er or -ir pattern.

The vosotros forms (hacéis, ponéis, salís) are used in Spain; in Latin America, ustedes (hacen, ponen, salen) covers every plural “you.”

Saber. Saber (to know) also changes only in the yo form in the present, but it does not take -go: the form is simply sé. With an infinitive, it expresses a learned skill, as in ¿Sabes nadar? (“Can you swim?”).

Keep the accent: sé means “I know,” while se without an accent is a pronoun, as in Se llama Ana (her name is Ana). The two sound the same, so the accent is what tells them apart in writing.

-go plus a stem change

Tener, venir, decir. These have a -go yo form as well: tengo, vengo, digo. On top of that, the vowel in the stem changes in the tú, él and ellos forms — e → ie in tener and venir, e → i in decir (which has the i in digo too). The nosotros and vosotros forms keep the stem of the infinitive.

Tener is also how you give your age: Tengo treinta años (I'm thirty — literally, “I have thirty years”). The same ie / i change shows up in many other verbs, such as querer → quiero — that is the topic of the stem-changing verbs guide.

Ir: fully irregular

Ir (to go) looks nothing like its infinitive in the present tense, so learn its six forms as a set. Apart from voy, the endings will look familiar: they are those of a regular -ar verb, added to v-.

Vais has no written accent, unlike habláis: it is a single syllable. Note also a + el = al: voy al cine. Two very common structures build on these verbs and come later: ir a + infinitive (voy a comer, “I'm going to eat”), which has its own guide, and tener que + infinitive (tengo que trabajar, “I have to work”).

Common mistakes

Building a regular yo form. Both have a -g- in the yo form: tener adds one (tengo), and hacer swaps its c for a g (hago). There is no regular “teno” or “haco.”

“Sabo” instead of sé. Saber's yo form is short and irregular — and it needs the accent.

Carrying the stem change into nosotros. The ie of tienes, tiene, tienen stops at the nosotros and vosotros forms.

The same goes for the other two verbs of this group: venimos, not “vienimos”; decimos, not “dicimos.”

Leaving ir unconjugated. Because voy looks nothing like ir, beginners often keep the infinitive or reach for va, the él form. With yo, the form is voy.

Quick exercise

Put the verb in the correct present-tense form.

1. Yo ___ la cama todas las mañanas. (hacer)
2. ¿Tú ___ hermanos? (tener)
3. Nosotros ___ al cine esta noche. (ir)
4. No ___ dónde está la estación. (yo, saber)
5. Mis padres ___ a cenar el sábado. (venir)
6. Vosotros siempre ___ la verdad. (decir)
7. Yo ___ de casa a las ocho. (salir)
8. Nosotros no ___ coche. (tener)
9. Yo ___ las llaves en la mesa. (poner)