Va… Iba... Fue.... How are these all the same verb??
Not only is Ir probably the most irregular verb in Spanish — there are also over 50 conjugations to memorize!
Though this may sound daunting, there is some good news: There are just 10 forms that native speakers use to say just about everything they need to say!
In this guide, I’ll walk you through those 10 forms you need for everyday conversation. I’ll also teach you a hack for using Ir to put Spanish verbs in the future. Plus, I’ll give you some quizzes throughout this guide to help you put your skills into action and start using them.
Before we dive in, let’s start with just a list of the top 10 forms of Ir.
These words come from a frequency analysis of Spanish spoken by native Spanish speakers. According to the numbers, these 10 most-used forms account for almost 80% of all real-life uses of Ir. Those top 10 forms include 5 present-tense forms, 2 past-tense forms, 1 subjunctive form, the infinitive, and an imperative form, in this order:
Let’s dive in and practice all of these!
Let’s start with the present tense. These are five forms that you might already know.
So as a simple example:
We can change this to “they go”:
In these two examples, it’s pretty straightforward; the Spanish and the English are pretty similar. But in Spanish, the present-tense forms of Ir are used in even more situations, to describe something that’s currently happening right now. For example, check out this example:
So the word vamos literally means “we go”, so the translation is literally “we go home now”. This is strange to English speakers; we don’t usually say “we go home now”, we say “we are going home now”. But in Spanish, both “we go” and “we are going” are typically translated simply as vamos.
Here’s another example:
So here we’re describing something that’s happening in the future, and once again in English we would typically say “they are going”, not “they go”. But in Spanish, you literally say “they go to the party tonight.”
Let’s practice all of these uses of the present-tense forms of Ir. I’m going to give you an English sentence and you should see if you can predict which form of Ir to use.
Answers:
1. Vamos
2. Va
3. Van
4. Voy
5. Vas
Next, let’s talk about the most common past tense form: fue. We use fue to say that someone went somewhere at some point in the past.
So for example,
This form, fue, only covers the third-person singular, so it’s used for “he went” (él fue), “she went” (ella fue), or “it went” (el perro fue). There are, of course, other forms for other persons, but they don’t make it to the top ten, so let’s go ahead and move on to some other forms.
Our next one to work on is the infinitive, ir. This is what we call an unconjugated form, which means it doesn’t change based on who it’s referring to.
The simplest way to practice this is with the verb Querer, which means “to want”. Check out how the word ir is used in these three examples:
In each case, the word ir stays the same; it’s not conjugated!
Next, let’s look at the subjunctive form vaya.
Why does this subjunctive form make it to the top ten? Well, it’s actually really important. In Spanish, any time someone wants someone else to go somewhere, you’ll need a subjunctive.
Here’s the simplest example, once again using the verb “querer”:
This is literally “I want that he go there”.
If you find this confusing, you can dive into this sentence structure in this other guide: Stuck on Subjunctives? Practice This One Sentence.
To summarize here: The basic formula is: Querer + que + subjunctive.
Here’s another example:
This word, vaya, which is a subjunctive of Ir, can refer to either “I go” or “he/she go”. As two more examples:
It’s interesting to point out that you could change each of these sentences to use the infinitive, ir, instead. But that would change the meaning. Compare these two sentences:
In the first case, they want her to go somewhere, but in the second one, they want it for themselves.
Whenever someone wants to go somewhere, you’ll use the infinitive, ir, but if you want someone else to go somewhere, you’ll need que and a subjunctive.
Let’s get a little practice with this. For each of these sentences, try to predict whether you’ll use ir or que along with the subjunctive vaya.
Answers:
1. ir
2. que ella vaya
3. que yo vaya
4. ir
Now let’s move on to imperatives - which are commands. This is how you’ll tell someone to go somewhere.
The simplest version is ve. For example:
But how often are you actually going to use this? Imperatives and commands can easily feel forceful, and sometimes even rude. But if you’re talking to someone you know really well, and you feel comfortable enough to order them to go somewhere, you might use ve.
Here’s another example:
Now, I don’t want you going out there and brusquely telling people to go places! So let’s actually learn two other imperatives that are useful for less forceful situations.
For example, you might need to give someone directions. Let’s say you’re in Mexico City, walking down the street with a fresh cup of coffee, and a sweet, elderly lady stops you and asks you where you got the coffee. She wants some, too. The coffee shop is just two blocks away, so you know she just needs to go to the *left* and then to the *right*. So if you were speaking English, you’d simply say “go to the left and then go to the right”.
However, in Spanish, we probably wouldn’t use ve here. Remember that in Spanish, sometimes you’ll use the informal “you”, or tú, and sometimes you’ll use the formal “you”, which is usted. In this situation, since you’re talking with an older person you don’t know, you’re likely to use usted. And the imperative to say “go” to someone in an usted voice is vaya.
Wait a minute, wasn’t vaya the subjunctive? Yes! But it also serves as the formal way to say “go” as an imperative.
So here’s what you might say:
The last imperative that we need to learn is the form for “let’s go”. You’ll use this when you want to include yourself in the command; for example, “let’s go to the party” or “let’s go to that new café tomorrow”. In Spanish, the “let’s go” form of Ir is vamos. (Yes, it looks and sounds exactly the same as the present-tense form for “we go”!)
For example:
By the way, for some deeper practice on how to say “let’s” in Spanish, both for Ir and for other verbs, we go in-depth in this other guide: How to Say “Let’s” in Spanish
In the meantime, let’s practice the imperatives of Ir. For each of these, try to predict whether it will be ve, vaya, or vamos.
In this first one, you’re talking to someone you know really well.
In this next one, you’re talking to someone you don’t know very well.
Answers:
1. ve
2. vamos
3. vaya, vaya
Now let’s talk about the future.
The most common way to put Ir in the future tense is with a three-part structure:
1. Choose a form of Ir
2. Add the preposition a
3. Use the infinitive, ir
In other words, the formula is: Ir + a + (infinitive)
Wait… are we really using Ir twice in these sentences?
Don’t worry — it’s actually a lot simpler than it sounds! In fact, we do the exact same thing in English. Check out this sentence:
In this sentence, you can see that I mention “going” twice: “going” and “go”. That’s because I’m using the phrase “we’re going to” to put the verb “go” in the future.
I can even do the same thing with other verbs. For example:
In this example, we’re not going anywhere; we just use the term “going to” to put “do” in the future.
So let’s practice this. Just pick a present-tense form of Ir (voy, va, vas, van, or vamos), then put the preposition a after any of these, and then use the infinitive, ir.
So, for example:
Or maybe:
Your turn! How do you think you would say this?
Answer:
(Ella) va a ir
And the great thing about this structure is that, just like in English, you can use this with ANY Spanish verb to put it in the future tense. Let’s say you want to say:
The word for “do” is hacer. So this would be:
Time for some practice! For each of these sentences, choose the appropriate version of Ir, then use a, then use either ir or hacer.
Answers:
1. Van a ir
2. Vas a hacer
3. Voy a ir
4. Va a ir
5. Vamos a hacer
Our last form of Ir is the word iba. This word is used to say “was going”, as in:
This is a past-tense form, like fue, but fue is used to emphasize that something is a one-time event rather than describing an ongoing activity. Why? Well, compare these two sentences, both in English and in Spanish:
Technically speaking, this is the difference between the imperfect past tense and the preterite past tense.
But there’s another reason that iba is so common. Check out this sentence in English:
So, where is she going in this sentence? She’s not going anywhere! Instead, we’re using “was going” to put the verb “to do” in the future. So it’s just like this sentence:
We talked about this earlier in this video, using Ir to put another verb in the future. Well, we can use iba to put another verb in the future of the past! Instead of “she IS going to do that”, we say:
Try this yourself with a couple of sentences:
Answers:
1. iba a hacer
2. iba a ir
Ready to get even better at this? We have a set of 40 flashcards you can download for free with even more examples you can practice with — focused on these top 10 forms of Ir. Download the free Ir flashcards here.