Lesson 11: -GO and -JO Verbs in the Present

11.1 -GO Verbs

Here we are going to look at another group that doesn't quite play by the rules. Before, we saw the stems change, but now we're going to see the ending change – only for the yo form though! We can call these the ‑GO verbs or yo go verbs because here, with a verb like poner (to put) or salir (to leave or to go out) we might expect to see the yo form be pono or salo. But no! The yo ending for these (and several other verbs) will actually be ‑GO. And every other form is normal! Phew. Check out these examples:

PONER
(to put)
in the Present Tense
yo
pongo
pones
él, ella, usted
pone
nosotros, nosotras
ponemos
vosotros, vosotras
ponéis
ellos, ellas, ustedes
ponen
Spanish verb conjugation chart for poner (to put) in the present tense. Pronouns and their present tense forms are shown for easy reference.
SALIR
(to leave, to go out)
in the Present Tense
yo
salgo
sales
él, ella, usted
sale
nosotros, nosotras
salimos
vosotros, vosotras
salís
ellos, ellas, ustedes
salen
Spanish verb conjugation chart for salir (to leave, to go out) in the present tense. Pronouns and their present tense forms are shown for easy reference.

11.2 -GO + Stem-Change Verbs

But wait, there's more! The ‑GO verbs have some crossovers with the stem-changing verbs. Check out tener (to have) and decir (to say). Their stems change like in the previous lesson, AND they have ‑GO endings in their yo forms:

TENER
(to have)
in the Present Tense
yo
tengo
tienes
él, ella, usted
tiene
nosotros, nosotras
tenemos
vosotros, vosotras
tenéis
ellos, ellas, ustedes
tienen
Spanish verb conjugation chart for tener (to have) in the present tense. Pronouns and their present tense forms are shown for easy reference.
DECIR
(to say)
in the Present Tense
yo
digo
dices
él, ella, usted
dice
nosotros, nosotras
decimos
vosotros, vosotras
decís
ellos, ellas, ustedes
dicen
Spanish verb conjugation chart for decir (to say) in the present tense. Pronouns and their present tense forms are shown for easy reference.

11.3 Common -GO Verbs

Here are some other ‑GO verbs you'll meet along the way as you work through VerbMaster's Master Class:

GO Verbs

hacer (to make)mantener (to maintain)
poner (to put, to set)obtener (to obtain)
salir (to leave, to go out)suponer (to suppose)
venir (to come)traer (to bring)
✦  Note  ✦

If you look carefully, you might notice that there are some prefixes on this list - like how obtener is OB + TENER or how suponer is SU + PONER. These prefixed forms will take on the same changes as the original verb; so obtener and mantener will be conjugated just like tener, and suponer will be conjugated just like poner, both of which we've looked at above. In other words, you're learning to conjugate multiple verbs at once!

11.4 -JO Verbs

A second group of verbs that needs our attention is another irregular yo form. Just like the ‑GO verbs, learning this group will help you now and again further down your road to becoming a VerbMaster. Here, the ‑G‑ becomes a ‑J‑. This protects the soft sound from the infinitive when the verb is conjugated. These tend to be infinitives that end in a vowel + ‑GER or ‑GIR.

PROTEGER
(to protect)
in the Present Tense
yo
protejo
proteges
él, ella, usted
protege
nosotros, nosotras
protegemos
vosotros, vosotras
protegéis
ellos, ellas, ustedes
protegen
Spanish verb conjugation chart for proteger (to protect) in the present tense. Pronouns and their present tense forms are shown for easy reference.
DIRIGIR
(to direct)
in the Present Tense
yo
dirijo
diriges
él, ella, usted
dirige
nosotros, nosotras
dirigimos
vosotros, vosotras
dirigís
ellos, ellas, ustedes
dirigen
Spanish verb conjugation chart for dirigir (to direct) in the present tense. Pronouns and their present tense forms are shown for easy reference.

Practice Time!

Master these verb conjugations from Lesson 11

TASKS

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poner
present
salir
present
tener
present
decir
present
dirigir
present
proteger
present