Why is ver irregular in preterite?
Ver uses the regular endings for a normal – er verb in the preterite and is only irregular because it does not have accent marks.
The Ver conjugation, specifically, is irregular in the present indicative, present subjunctive, imperfect, preterite, past participle, and imperative forms. That means that it's only regular in the future, the conditional, and the imperfect subjunctive.
Examples of ver conjugation in past preterite tense
Vi que él estaba con otra mujer. | I saw that he was with another woman.
The Spanish verb ver (pronounced /behr/) is irregular because we keep the 'e' from the ending in some forms of the present and the imperfect tenses. Notice how this verb is conjugated: Present tense: veo, ves, ve, vemos, veis, ven.
Preterite and Imperfect tenses are both related to the past, but they function differently. The preterite tells you precisely when something happened in the past, while the imperfect tells you in general terms when an action took place with no definite ending.
- ver = to see.
- gerund form = viendo.
- past participle = visto.
What makes ver irregular is that all you remove is the – r from the infinitive ver, and put ve– in front of the regular endings. Since all the regular imperfect endings for – er and – ir verbs have written accent marks, the same is true for ver.
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The preterite is used to describe actions which have been completed.
Person | Verbs ending in -ar | Verbs ending in -er and -ir |
---|---|---|
yo | -é | -í |
tú | -aste | -iste |
él, ella, usted | -ó | -ió |
nosotros | -amos | -imos |
In Spanish, the present tense 'ver' means 'to see', however, the commands can be translated as 'to see', 'to watch', or 'to look'. Note that the conjugation is different when determining if we are using the present tense or giving a command.
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Imperfect - Irregular Verb - ver.
yo | veía | (I used to see) |
---|---|---|
nosotros (as) | veíamos | (we used to see) |
vosotros (as) | veíais | (you guys used to see) |
Uds./ellos/ ellas | veían | (you all/they used to see) |
Is Ver irregular in the future?
In the future simple, voir takes on a completely different radical: ver-, which is followed by the regular future simple endings. This radical will come back later in the conditional. Example: Vous verrez vos amis demain soir. (You will see your friends tomorrow.)
The verb conjugations of ver in the future tense are regular. As opposed to irregular verbs, regular verbs such as ver follow an established grammatical pattern when conjugated in the future tense.

Generally speaking, the preterite is used for actions in the past that are seen as completed, while the imperfect tense is used for past actions that did not have a definite beginning or a definite end.
The main 3 irregular verbs in the Spanish past imperfect tense are ser (to be), ir (to go) and ver (to see).
Ver is a Spanish irregular verb meaning to see. Ver appears on the 100 Most Used Spanish Verbs Poster as the 8th most used irregular verb.
The infinitive form of the verb is ver. The past participle of ver is visto. The gerund form of ver is viendo. These compound tenses involve using the helping verbs haber and estar.
What is a verb? A verb is a word that we use to refer to actions (what things do) and states of being (how things are). For example, the words describe, eat, and rotate are verbs.
What makes ver irregular is that all you remove is the – r from the infinitive ver, and put ve– in front of the regular endings. Since all the regular imperfect endings for – er and – ir verbs have written accent marks, the same is true for ver.
The verbs ir (to go), ver (to see), and ser (to be) are completely irregular in the imperfect tense.
ser, ir and ver are irregular in the imperfect tense.
Is Ver irregular in the yo form?
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Ver Conjugation: Present Tense.
yo | veo |
---|---|
tú | ves |
él/ella | ve |
ns. | vemos |
vs. | veis |
Ver is a Spanish verb meaning to see. Ver is conjugated as an irregular verb in the preterite tense.
Ver in the Indicative Imperfect
The Indicative Imperfect of ver is used to describe regular and repeated actions that happened in the past and descriptions of things you used to do. For example, "veía fantasmas", meaning "I used to see ghosts". In Spanish, the Indicative Imperfect is known as "El Pretérito Imperfecto".
The Spanish Verb Ver
If you happen to be familiar with the present tense endings for regular verbs that end in -er, the good news is that ver has regular endings, except for the first person yo (I).
Seeing a Spanish verb. Ver, "to see," is one of the most common Spanish verbs and is irregular in the present tense. It's used much like its English equivalent. ¿Qué ves?
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Mode: Indicative.
Personal Pronoun | Conjugation |
---|---|
Yo | había visto |
Tu | habías visto |
El/Ella | había visto |
Nosotros | habíamos visto |
Personal Pronoun | Conjugation |
---|---|
Yo | he visto |
Tu | has visto |
El/Ella | ha visto |
Nosotros | hemos visto |
- yo. veo.
- tú ves.
- él/ella/Ud. ve.
- nosotros. vemos.
- vosotros. veis.
- ellos/ellas/Uds. ven.
Ver means “to see” in most cases and typically (but not always) refers to the act of perceiving something through your eyes. Mirar translates into “to look” and “to watch” and implies paying close attention to something.