Ir Conjugation: Free Spanish Lesson, Quiz, and PDF

We’re going to learn—or vamos a aprender—about the conjugation of the verb ir in Spanish! 

Ir is one of the most used verbs in Spanish, so get ready to level up your language understanding.

Ir is an irregular and stem-changing verb that means “to go.” It is part of the –ir verbs in Spanish such as decir, seguir, venir and salir. Just as in English it does not always mean going somewhere physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and when you are “going to do something.”

Some less-common translations are “to head,” “to leave,” “to pass by,” “to chase after,” “to pursue,” and “to run away.”

Today, we’ll learn this ending ir conjugation in multiple forms, encompassing three moods:

• indicative mood 
• the subjunctive mood 
• and the imperative mood

What do you think of the expression me voy a ir yendo? It is a grammatically correct sentence that uses three different tenses of the ir conjugation to mean “I will get going.” Read ahead to find every tense of the ir conjugation and more expressions like this! 

At the end of the blog post, there is a multiple-choice quiz so you can test your newly acquired knowledge. Also, I am giving you useful information about bilingualism and how to learn Spanish faster.

¡Vámonos yendo!
Let’s get going!

The Ultimate Guide to Ir Conjugation

If you are not familiar with the tenses of the highly irregular ir conjugation, don’t worry! I’ve got your back! I am breaking down every single one for you with explanations and examples.

You also need to know that this post is designed so you can study it in bite sizes and with a downloadable and printable PDF with charts.  

Ir Conjugation: Verbals

For these ir conjugations, there are two forms of ir that you need to learn.

1. Conjugation of haber + past participle of ir
2. Conjugation of estar + gerund form of ir

The infinitive form of the verb is ir.
The past participle of ir is do.
The gerund form of ir is yendo.

These compound tenses involve using the helping verbs haber and estar. The conjugation changes in these tenses happen in the helping verb, while the form of ir stays the same. 

Let’s see them in action:

Quiero ir al museo mañana.
I want to go to the museum tomorrow.

Juan ha ido al baño.
Juan has gone to the bathroom.

Estoy yendo a la tienda.
I am going to the store.

Ir Conjugation: Indicative Mood

The indicative mood has the most basic tenses of the Spanish verb ir. By learning the present simple, past simple, future simple, past imperfect, and conditional you will understand basic expressions and conversation with ir.

Present simple

The present tense of the ir verb is the most common one. The stem change is complete from ir to vo- and va-.

Nosotros vamos a Madrid, ¿y ustedes?
We are going to Madrid, and you??

Ellas van camino al centro.
They are on their way downtown.

¿Usted va a la Ciudad de México?
Are you going to Mexico City?

Past Simple

In the past tense, ir conjugation has another stem change from ir to fui– and fue-.

Yo fui a la escuela toda la semana.
I went to school all week.

Sofía fue al cine después del trabajo.
Sofía went to the movies after work.

¿Tú fuiste a un viaje familiar?
Did you go on a family trip?

Past Imperfect

The past imperfect form -that once again, has a stem change from ir to iba– is translated to “used to.”

Yo iba al mercado todos los lunes.
I used to go to the market every Monday.

Antes íbamos a la misma universidad.
We used to go to the same university.

Tú ibas al estadio norte, ahora al del sur.
You used to go to the north stadium, now to the south.

Future Simple

In the future tense, the stem stays the same and every conjugation starts with ir-, they all translate to “will go.”

Nosotros iremos al show de la noche.
We will go to the night show.

Las niñas irán a otra ciudad. 
The girls will go to another city.

Usted irá a otro lado.
You will go to another place.

Conditional

In the conditional form of the verb ir, the stem stays the same and it translates to English as “would go”.

Yo iría si tuviera el dinero. 
I would go if I had the money. 

Tú irías de vacaciones si quisieras.
You would go on holiday if you wanted to.

Ellos irían a clase pero cerraron la escuela.
They would go to class but they closed the school..

Ir Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood

We use the subjunctive mood to talk about hypotheses, hopes, wishes, or uncertainty. This is a more advanced mode of the Spanish verb ir. The forms of this mood are the present, past, past perfect, and future subjunctive. The latter one is rarely used, so I did not include it in this lesson.

Present Subjunctive

El que yo vaya a la playa no cambia nada. 
The fact that I go to the beach doesn’t change anything.

Lo que quiero es que nos vayamos temprano.
What I want is for us to leave early.

Ustedes vayan sin mí. 
You go without me.

Past Subjunctive

Si tú fueras al banco temprano sería mejor.
If you went to the bank earlier it would be better. 

Si nosotros fuéramos a Nueva York, te diríamos.
If we went to New York, we would tell you.

El que ellos fueran a salir, no me afecta.
That they were going out does not affect me. 

Do not mix up the verbs ser and ir! Fuera and fuese are also the past subjunctive tense of the verb “to be”. That means that they can also mean “was,” “were,” or “be.” Here is an example of this other purpose of the word:

Si usted fuese otra persona, no lo dejaría pasar. 
If you were another person, I wouldn’t let you in.

Tu querías que yo fuera puntual.
You wanted me to be punctual.

Yo esperaba que ella fuera más honesta. 
I hoped she was more honest.

Fuera as a verb conjugation is not to be confused with fuera as an adverb which means “out,” “outside,” “abroad,” “away,” and “without.”

Yo estuve fuera del país un mes.
I was out of the country for one month.

Fuera de esto, yo ya tomé mi decisión.
Without considering this, I already made a decision.

¡Estás fuera!
You’re out!

Past Perfect Subjunctive

The past perfect subjunctive is also known as el pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo (pluperfect subjunctive) in Spanish, believe it or not. But don’t let the name scare you! It is used to explain past hypothetical situations that precede hypothetical outcomes. They often sound like a form of regret or scolding. 

For the past perfect subjunctive tense, we use the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the ir verb.

Si yo hubiese ido a la fiesta, nadie se habría dado cuenta.
If I had gone to the party, no one would have noticed.

Nosotros hubiéramos ido a comprar ropa, si mi papá me hubiera dado dinero.
We would have gone to buy clothes if my dad had given me money.

Si no hubiéramos ido a clases, hubiéramos reprobado.
If we hadn’t gone to class, we would have failed.

Si te hubieses ido temprano ayer, no estarías cansada hoy.
If you would have gone early yesterday, you wouldn’t be tired today.

Present Perfect Subjunctive

In the present perfect subjunctive or pretérito perfecto del subjuntivo, you can perceive connections from past actions to the present. They still have an effect today although they could have happened a long time ago.

For the perfect subjunctive tense, we use the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the ir verb.

¿No te importa que yo haya ido sin ti?
Don’t you mind that I went without you?

Me enoja que hayas ido a la boda con ella.
I am angry that you went to the wedding with her.

El que ustedes no hayan ido a la escuela es decepcionante.
That you guys haven’t gone to school is disappointing.

El que nosotros hayamos ido a Mazatlán no tiene que ver contigo.
The fact that we have gone to Mazatlan has nothing to do with you.

Ir Conjugation: Imperative Mood

We use the imperative mood to give orders or commands. 

¡Ve al súper ahora mismo!
Go to the supermarket right now! 

¡No vayan a salir sin mí!
Do not go out without me.

¡Vamos a la playa! 
Let’s go to the beach.

I added exclamation marks to emphasize the imperative voice of the sentences, but the mood does not change without them.

Now, it’s time to practice what we’ve covered!

Formulas

I curated some formulas for you to have on your cheat sheet. They will help you to build grammatically correct sentences in different scenarios.

With Prepositions

Have you noticed that the Spanish verb ir is always followed by a preposition and never by a noun? These words can be a (to), con (with), para (to or for), and de (of), mainly. The general formula looks like this:

Pronoun + ir verb conjugation + preposition + noun.

With Gerunds

Like I said in the introduction, the ir conjugation does not only apply to someone going somewhere but also to someone on their way of doing something. Here is the formula and some examples so you can dorm continuous phrases:

Pronoun + ir conjugation + gerund.

Yo voy aprendiendo.
I am learning

Please note that some expressions are understood without pronouns.

Voy aprendiendo.
I am learning.

Me estoy enamorando de ella.
I am falling in love with her.

With Prepositions and Infinitives

This construction -“going to”- is interchangeable with the future tense -”will”- they can both be used in everyday conversation in Spanish indistinctly.

Formula:

 Pronoun + ir + a + infinitive

Example: 

Yo voy a hacer la tarea.
I am going to do the homework.

Future Tense:

Haré la tarea.
I will do the homework.

Ir Conjugation Exercises

To test with your newfound knowledge of ir conjugation, practice using the following exercises! You can check your work with the answer key below.

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Nicole Canún

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Blogger, content creator, and marketer. Proudly Mexican. Been to 30 countries. I love learning from different cultures and trying their cuisines. Obsessed with Asia. Fluent in Spanish and English, not so much in French.

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