Though native speakers often don’t realize it, English has a lot of patterns similar to Spanish that can help us understand and apply the rules of Spanish conjugation. For more on the different person categories and personal pronouns in Spanish, see this guide. Spanish uses one extra category of person that corresponds to addressing “you all/you guys” in English. The form of a verb changes to show who perpetrated the action (the person) and when it occurred (the tense).
This guide will help prepare you to encounter these tricksters in the wild and understand their irregular ways.
Verbs which do not follow the dominant conjugation scheme are called irregular verbs, and they are extremely common in Spanish (just as they are in English). After taking a few minutes to look at Spanish verbs, you will find that beneath the surface they are full of surprises.
