In the seventh class of our Absolute Beginner Spanish course we are going to learn two of the most important verbs in any language: to be and to have, which in Spanish are the verb ser and the verb tener.
They also happen to be quite irregular even in the present. This means we have to learn every one of the six forms of each verb by heart!
The verb ser (to be)
This is the most irregular verb in Spanish (also in English, if you think about it!), to the point that some of the forms don’t even make sense if we compare them to other more normal verbs.
| ser | |
|---|---|
| yo | soy |
| tú | eres |
| él, ella, usted | es |
| nosotros, ‑as | somos |
| vosotros, ‑as | sois |
| ellos, ‑as, ustedes | son |
The verb tener (to have)
This one has two different types of irregularities. One of them (e – ie) is going to be happening quite often in other verbs, whereas the ‑g‑ in the 1st person singular is rarer, but will also appear in other frequent verbs.
| tener | |
|---|---|
| yo | tengo |
| tú | tienes |
| él, ella, usted | tiene |
| nosotros, ‑as | tenemos |
| vosotros, ‑as | tenéis |
| ellos, ‑as, ustedes | tienen |
Just learn them by heart. Don’t despair. Most of the verbs are regular, and even the irregular ones usually have only a few irregularity patterns.