In probably all Indo-Germanic languages - at least in Spanish,
French, Italian, Persian, English, German and Latin
- the change of verbs follows a certain logic. It's
hard enough to learn this logic and then there are exceptioins
to this logic, which makes things not even easier.
Of the irregular verbs, there are two
types. The first are the ones that change only their
way of writing (not the way they are spoken). They are
only in their spelling different to ensure the regularity
of the spoken language. In the spoken language, they
are not even irregulars. Let's have a look at an example.
vencer
= to win same logic:
convencer = to convince
indicativo
presente
yo venzo
tú vences
él vence
nosotros vencemos
vosotros vencéis
ellos vencen
imperfecto
yo vencía
tú vencías
el vencía
nosotros vencíamos
vosotros vencíais
ellos vencían
indefinido
yo vencí
tú venciste
él venció
nosotros vencimos
vosotros vencisteis
ellos vencieron
futuro
venceré
vencerás
vencerá
venceremos
venceréis
vencerán
subjuntivo
presente
yo venza
tú venzas
él venza
nosotros venzamos
vosotros venzáis
ellos venzan
imperfecto
yo venciera
tú vencieras
él venciera
nosotros venciéramos
vosotros vencierais
ellos vencieran
imperativo
vence (no venzas)
venza Usted (no venza Usted)
venzamos
venced (no venzáis)
venzan Ustedes
condicional
yo vencería
tú vencerías
él vencería
nosotros venceríamos
vosotros venceríais
ellos vencerían
with convencer:yo convenzo,
tú convences... yo
convencí, tú
convenciste... yo convenza,
tú convenzas...
etc.
As you can see, vencer changes its stem
in the first person singular in presente indicativo
and in all the forms of the subjuntivo. This is only
a different spelling to ensure the phonetical consistence.
If not changed the the first person singular in presente
indicativo would be:
venco = spoken: venko
Now it would be irregular because the sound
of [c] would change to [k]. This is due to the rule
that before the vocals a and o c is spoken k. These
kinds of irregularities are derived irregularities.
Then there are the genuine irregular verbs that change
not only in spelling but also in the way they are spoken.
We will give an overview that include the imperfect, which
actually has hardly any irregularities but it's easier
to learn this way.
There are about 2,000 verbs, 1,000 of those have some
kind of irregularity. But don't worry there aren't 1,000
different irregularities but only about 80. Most of
them follow a certain scheme. Some verbs have more than
one irregularity. One of those is colgar
= to hang.
colgar = to hang
indicativo
presente
yo cuelgo
tú cuelgas
él cuelga
nosotros colgamos
vosotros colgáis
ellos cuelgan
imperfecto
yo colgaba
tú colgabas
él colgaba
nosotros colgábamos
vosotros colgabais
ellos colgaban
indefinido
yo colgué
tú colgaste
él colgó
nosotros colgamos
vosotros colgasteis
ellos colgaron
futuro
yo colgaré
tú colgarás
él colgará
nosotros colgaremos
vosotros colgaréis
ellos colgarán
subjuntivo
presente
yo cuelgue
tú cuelgues
él cuelgue
nosotros colguemos
vosotros colguéis
ellos cuelguen
imperfecto
yo colgara
tú colgaras
él colgara
nosotros colgaramos
vosotros colgarais
ellos colgaran
imperativo
-
cuelga (no cuelgues)
cuelgue Usted (no cuelgue
Usted)
colguemos (no colguemos)
colgad (no colguéis)
cuelguen Ustedes (no cuelguen)
condicional
yo colgaría
tú colgarías
él colgaría
nosotros colgaríamos
vosotros colgaríais
ellos colgarían
gerundio:
colgando
participio perfecto:
colgado
This verb shows two changes. The o turns an u, and
after g is an u added (again because of the pronunciation
rule that g is spoken with a throat-sound when it is
before i or e). Therefore, it is tú cuelgues and
not tú cuelges. In the following we have distinguished
between genuine irregular verbs and derived irregular
verbs. If a verb has two irregularities, a genuine
one and a derived one, it is to be found among the
genuine irregular verbs only.
We now will have a look first at the genuine irregular
verbs and the first ones are so irregular that even
the imperfect is irregular.
