Spanish Verbs Collection Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Like most other languages, Spanish has a number of irregular verbs, meaning they don't follow the usual rules of conjugation.

Verbs in Spanish are formed by a stem and an ending. The "irregularities" are generally found in the stem, but they can also affect the ending, and in some cases, even both. Additionally, some verbs are only irregular for the first person in singular ("yo").

There are a couple rules of thumb on how to "convert" the irregular verbs when conjugating them. Of course, as it happens in every rule, there are always exceptions. We'll look at each of one in detail -- note that only the Present Indicative mode will be used for the examples, to keep this from being too long:

- When the last syllable of the stem ends in "en" or "er", the "e" shifts to "ie" when conjugated in all persons of singular and the 3rd person plural. The 1st and 2nd persons plural retain the original stem:
Pensar (to think) -> yo pienso, tú piensas, él/ella piensa, nosotros pensamos, vosotros pensáis, ellos/ellas piensan;
Comenzar (to begin) -> comienzo, comienzas, comienza...;
Defender (to defend) -> defiendo, defiendes, defiende...
Exceptions: convencer (to convince), prevenir (to prevent), rendir (to yield), among others, are also irregular, but they don't follow the above rule.

- When the last syllable of the stem contains an "o", it becomes "ue" when conjugated, same as above:
Morder (to bite) -> muerdo, muerdes, muerde, mordemos, mordéis, muerden;
Dormir (to sleep) -> duermo, duermes, duerme...;
Volver (to return) -> vuelvo, vuelves, vuelve...
Exceptions: Comer (to eat), which is actually regular; Poner (to put, or to place something) is irregular only in the 1st person singular, and it also doesn't follow the rule ("yo pongo").

There are other cases that don't really follow any particular rules. The conjugations can add extra consonants, or change the existing ones, some even switch vocals for consonants, and some others alter the original word completely. As the above rules covered 6 of the correct options, we'll look at the rest in detail below:
* Jugar (to play, as in a game) -- the "u" turns to "ue" in the singular persons and the 3rd plural.
* Conducir (to conduct; also to drive) -- the 1st person singular is "yo conduzco", while all the others are conjugated normally.
* Decir (to say) -- similar to "conducir" but with additional irregularities in the singular persons and in the 3rd plural: yo digo / tú dices / él/ella dice / ellos/ellas dicen. The remaining plurals are conjugated normally.
* Traer (to bring something) -- it is only irregular in the 1st person singular: "yo traigo".
* Ser (to be) is one example of a verb that doesn't follow any of the normal rules of conjugation. The complete list is as follows: yo soy / tú eres / él/ella es / nosotros somos / vosotros sóis / ellos/ellas son.
* Ir (to go) is the other major example of the previous case: yo voy / tú vas / él/ella va / nosotros vamos / vosotros váis / ellos/ellas van.

The last two verbs are among the most used in Spanish, so it's quite important to learn the correct conjugation.