Spanish learners should understand the present tense and the preterite tense of the verb ir and the different usage forms of it in order to have fluent conversations in Spanish.
Ir is an irregular verb which means that it does not follow the conjugation rules that are given to '-ir' ending verbs. The best way to learn how to conjugate ir verbs is by pure memorization; however, the words are short and easy to remember.
Ir conjugations are presented in the subsections below.
Present Tense
The present tense is used to describe actions that are happening at the moment (right now).
| Subject Pronouns | Present Tense | Pronunciation | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | voy | (boy) | I go/I'm going |
| tú | vas | (bahs) | You (familiar) go/are going |
| él/ella/usted | va | (bah) | He/she goes/is going; you (formal) go/are going |
| nosotros/nosotras | vamos | (bah-mohs) | We go/are going |
| vosotros/vosotras | vais | (bah-eehs) | You all go/are going |
| ellas/ellos/ustedes | van | (bahn) | They/you all go/are going |
In Spanish, voy is pronounced with a "B" and sounds like the word "boy" in English. Similarly, vas, va, vamos, and van all carry the "B" sound as shown by the pronunciations in the chart above.
Note: The word eso (masculine form) or esa (feminine form) meaning "it" can be used with the verb ir to describe a thing that is moving. Also note that in Spanish, the word "it" is never used to refer to animals; instead, el (masculine form) meaning "he" or ella (feminine form) meaning "she" is used.
The following are example sentences using the present tense of the verb ir.
- Ustedes van con vestidos largos a las bodas. ("You all go with long dresses to the weddings.")
- This example can also be translated as, "You all wear long dresses to the weddings" since it is using the "to wear or have something on" meaning of ir.
- Los jugetes van en el armario blanco. ("The toys go in the white cupboard.")
- In this example, the subject pronoun ellos (masculine form) is used to refer to los juguetes (masculine form) meaning "the toys" thus, "van" is used as the conjugation form of ir.
- Las cosas van bien en mi matrimonio. ("Things are going well in my marriage.")
- In this example, the subject pronoun ellas (feminine form) is used to refer to las cosas (feminine form) meaning "things" thus, "van" is used as the conjugation form of ir.
- Nosotros vamos al parque en las tardes. ("We go to the park in the afternoons.")
- Esta camisa va con mi pantalon negro. ("This shirt goes with my black pants.") This example can also be translated as "This shirt matches my black pants."
Past Tense
One of two past tense participles, the preterite tense is used to describe past actions that have been completed (not continuous). Another conjugation of the verb ir can be the imperfect form or copreterite. As mentioned above, ir is an irregular verb; thus, the preterite conjugations should be memorized in order to use the term correctly in Spanish.
Conjugation for ir in the preterite tense along with pronunciations and translations are as follows:
| Subject Pronouns | Preterite Tense | Pronunciation | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | fui | (fwee) | I went |
| tú | fuiste | (fwees-teh) | You (familiar) went |
| él/ella/usted | fue | (fweh) | He/she/you (formal) went |
| nosotros/nosotras | fuimos | (fwee-mohs) | We went |
| vosotros/vosotras | fuisteis | (fwees-teyhs) | You all go/are going |
| ellas/ellos/ustedes | fueron | (fweh-rohn) | They/you all went |
The preterite conjugations for the verb ir translate to "went." This should not be confused with the verb ser which means "to be" and whose preterite conjugations translate to was, for example, yo fui meaning "I was."
The following are example sentences using the ir preterite tense.
- Yo fui al gimnacio con mis amigos. ("I went to the gym with my friends.")
- Fuiste muy linda a la fiesta. ("You went really pretty to the party.")
- La venta fue de viernes a domingo. ("The sale went from Friday to Sunday.")
- Me fue bien en mi examen. ("I did well on my exam.")
- Nosotros fuimos con sombreros a la playa. ("We went to the beach with hats.") This sentence is more naturally translated as "We wore hats to the beach."
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The following is a sample conversation using different conjugations of the verb ir along with English translations. In the conversation, Eliza and Gina are planning a party.
- Eliza: Fui a comprar el pastel porque la fiesta es el viernes.
- "I went to buy the cake because the party is on Friday."
- Gina: Me parece bien, solo nos va a faltar unos músicos.
- "I think it's good, we're only going to lack some musicians."
- Eliza: Marcos me dijo que va a traer una banda de mariachi.
- "Marcos told me he is going to bring a mariachi band."
- Gina: ¡Que bueno! Yo voy a ponerme un vestido rojo y bailar toda la noche.
- "How good! I am going to wear a red dress and dance all night."
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The verb ir meaning "to go" has multiple uses, including to indicate movement, to wear or have something on, to indicate where something should be placed, and to indicate progress, among others.
There are many ways to conjugate this verb, for example, the present tense describes current actions. For example:
- Yo voy (I go / I am going)
- Tú vas (you go)
- Él/ella/usted va (he/she/you are going)
- Nosotros/nosotras vamos (we go)
- Vosotros/vosotras vais (you all are going)
- Ellos/ellas/ustedes van (they/you all go)
An example sentence using the present tense is Ella va a ser mandona, meaning, "She is going to be bossy." The preterite tense is used to talk about completed past actions (not continuous). For example, the sentence Ustedes dos fueron al teatro means "You two went to the theater."
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Video Transcript
Vamos
¡Vamos! If you've been watching the Study.com videos, you know that I say vamos a lot. It's just so user friendly! In language, there's a core group of words that are commonly used and other words that are hardly ever used - and then thousands in between. We use the verb 'to go' all the time, and today we get to learn it in Spanish. ¡Vamos!
The Verb Ir
Ir means 'to go' and, like English, is used multiple times a day by Spanish speakers across the globe. There's good news and bad news about ir. The bad news is that ir is completely irregular. I'm sad to say that it will not follow basic conjugation rules and must be memorized. The good news, though, is that the conjugations are easy and fun to say, so memorizing them is not so horrible.
¡Vamos! Let's do it!
The 5 conjugations of ir are voy, vas, va, vamos and van.
Note that the singular conjugations are on the left and the plural are on the right. Remember, I suggest to always do this:
| voy | I go/I'm going | vamos | we go/are going |
| vas | you (familiar) go/are going | ||
| va | he, she, it goes/is going you (formal) go/are going | van | they/you guys go/are going |
Voy sounds exactly like the word 'boy' in English. Vas, va, vamos and van all carry the B sound, just the same. Let's say them several times for practice.
| voy | vamos |
| vas | |
| va | van |
See? This verb kind of grows on you the more you say it!
Ir in Action
Okay, let's use ir in a story to see how it works in action.
Yo soy Lola, la madre de la familia. Yo voy al supermercado y tú vas conmigo. ?Y Elena? Ella va también. ¡Ahh! Y ustedes dos. ¡Sí! Ustedes van también. ¡Por fin! ¡Vamos al supermercado!
Did you follow the story? Let's look at it again with the English translations.
| Yo soy Lola, la madre de la familia. | I'm Lola, the mother of the family. |
| Yo voy al supermercado y tú vas conmigo. | I'm going to the supermarket, and you're going with me. |
| ?Y Elena? Ella va también. | And Elena? She's going, too. |
| ¡Ahh! Y ustedes dos. ¡Sí! Ustedes van también. | Oh! And you two. Yes! You guys are going, too. |
| ¡Por fin! ¡Vamos al supermercado! | Finally! Let's go to the supermarket! |
Hm... Lola is a little mandona (bossy), isn't she? And yes, vamos means 'we go,' but what else do you think it means, now that you've seen it used so many times? That's right - 'Let's go!' ¡Vamos!
¡Muy bien!
Lesson Summary
Okay, now we know the conjugations of ir. Here's the review:
1. Ir is completely irregular and doesn't follow regular verb conjugation rules.
2. The following are the conjugations. Voy is pronounced just like the English word 'boy.'
| voy | I go/I'm going | vamos | we go/are going |
| vas | you (familiar) go/are going | ||
| va | he, she, it, goes/is going you (formal) go/are going | van | they/you guys go/are going |
3. Always remember that the present tense in Spanish can also denote the '-ing,' according to context. Voy can mean 'I go' or 'I am going;' vas can mean 'you go' or 'you are going.'
4. Vamos can also mean 'Let's go.'
| voy | vamos |
| vas | |
| va | van |
Learning Outcome
After watching this lesson, you should be able to properly conjugate the irregular Spanish verb 'ir' using the five conjugations to discuss where you are going.
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