The Spanish verb ir means “to go.” It is an irregular verb, which means that it does not follow the same conjugation pattern as regular verbs. In this post, we will learn how to conjugate ir in all its forms.
We will also learn about the contraction of a + el, which is a common occurrence when using the verb ir. By the end of this post, you will be able to conjugate ir like a pro!
Here are some of the things we will cover in this post:
- What is the verb ir?
- How to conjugate ir in the present tense
- How to contract a + el
- Examples of how to use ir in a sentence
So whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, this post is for you! Let’s get started!
Ir is an irregular verb. The conjugations of ir are:
| English | Spanish | ir Conjugation |
| I go | Yo | voy |
| You go | tú | vas |
| He/she/ goes | Él/Ella | va |
| You (formal) go | Usted | va |
| We go | Nosotros/Nosotras | vamos |
| You (Spain) go | Vosotros/Vosotras | vais |
| They/They/You go | Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | van |
Ir means: to go
Ir is an irregular verb. That means that it does not follow the pattern of regular -ir verbs. Do not think that it is an -ir verb. It is not. Ir is an irregular verb.
Let’s start by learning the conjugation of the verb ir: to go.
Ir conjugation video lesson
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The conjugations of the verb Ir are as follows
Yo → voy.
I go. See how it went from ir to voy? That’s what makes it irregular.
Tú (you informal) → vas
Tú vas means: You go.
Èl/Ella/ Ud (you formal) → va
Èl va → He goes.
Ella va → She goes.
Ud. Va → You (f.) go.
Since él/ella/Ud. share the same conjugation, it is important to use the subject pronoun to make sure we know who we are all talking about. Once the subject is established you don’t have to continue using the subject pronoun.
Nosotros (nosotras) → vamos
Nosotros vamos means: We go. Remember that nosotros includes you and it is in regards to a group you are part of in which is mixed or ALL males.
Nosotras vamos means: We go. Remember that nosotras includes you and it is in regards to a group you are part of in which ALL are females.
Vosotros (vosotras) → vais
Vosotros vais means: You (plural in Spain) go. Vosotros and vosotras are used when talking TO a group of people. Do remember that we have to think about gender here.
Vosotras vais means: You (plural in Spain) go. Vosotras is used when talking TO a group of ONLY females.
The subject pronoun can also be omitted.
Ellos/Ellas/Uds. → van
Since ellos/ellas/Uds. share the same conjugation, it is important to use the subject pronoun to make sure we know who we are all talking about. Once the subject is established you don’t have to continue using the subject pronoun.
Ellos van means: They go. Remember that Ellos is used to talk ABOUT a group of males OR a mixed group of males and females (regardless of the ratio).
Ellas están van: They go. Remember that Ellas is used to talk ABOUT a group of females ONLY.
Uds. están means: You (plural) are.
Those are the conjugations of the verb ir to go.
If you already know the subject pronouns then you are just memorizing:
voy, vas, va, vamos vais and van.
So now that we know the conjugations of the verb ir let’s look at some examples together so we can talk about the places that I go, you go, he goes and we all go.
In order to do that we first have to learn this little expression or formula.
Ir a + place is used to talk about the places that we go to.
Ir a → to go to
Let’s say that I am going to say “I go to school”
I would take the conjugation of ir in the yo form and follow the rest of the formula.
(Yo) Voy a la escuela
Now I want you to look at this:
So far we went to la escuela and la clase de matemáticas
Those two nouns are feminine, la escuela and la clase de matemáticas. If you need to review gender of nouns a bit more check this lesson out → Adjectives and Nouns.
If the place we are going to is a masculine noun, things change up a bit …
Notice how that el supermercado is a masculine noun.
Why does that matter?
Because, anytime that we have an a followed by el we have to contract it into al
Let me show you …
Let me show you: a + el = al
(Yo) voy al supermercado.
a + el = al
Now let’s say we are going to the training like a sports training. That would be el entrenamiento.
Let’s use ir a + place.
Now, is el entrenamiento masculine? Yes , yes it is … therefore we will have to remember to contract a + el into al. Let’s do that all together.
Vamos a … … el entrenamiento .
Ok let’s contract a + el into al. That would look like this.
(Nosotros) vamosalentrenamiento.
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