Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like ver, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).

There are rules in languages and there are rule breakers and this is the case of the irregular verbs. For some reason they don’t follow the pattern that we have been learning. Why does it have to be so confusing? The “Yo form” is the one that changes the verbs into irregular ones.

Ver (to see) is the ultimate irregular –er verb; that’s all it is, v, e and r! Your best bet is to just memorize its conjugations. Here it is in the present tense:

The Present Tense of Ver

ConjugationTranslationyo veoI seetú vesYou (informal) seeél/ella/ello/uno veHe/she/one seesusted veYou (formal) seenosotros vemosWe seevosotros véisYou all (informal) seeellos/ellas venThey seeustedes venYou all (formal) see

The following examples show you ver in action:  

• Nosotros vemos una vaca en la montaña. (We see a cow in the mountain.)
• Enrique ve a su madre tres veces a la semana. (Enrique sees his mother three times per week.)

The following table shows you ver in the preterit tense. Think you’ve seen these conjugations before?

The Preterit Tense of Ver

ConjugationTranslationyo viI sawtú visteYou (informal) sawél/ella/ello/uno vioHe/she/one sawusted vioYou (formal) sawnosotros vimosWe sawvosotros visteisYou all (informal) sawellos/ellas vieronThey sawustedes vieronYou all (formal) saw

You use the preterit tense like this:

• Mis hermanos vieron mi universidad. (My siblings saw my university.)  
• ¿Viste mis llaves? (Did you see my keys?)

Ver is one of only three irregular imperfect verbs. Here’s that conjugation; notice that, like regular verbs, the first-person and third-person singular forms (yo, él/ella/usted) are the same.

The Imperfect Tense of Ver

ConjugationTranslationyo veíaI used to seetú veíasYou (informal) used to seeél/ella/ello/uno veíaHe/she/one used to seeusted veíaYou (formal) used to seenosotros veíamosWe used to seevosotros veíasYou all (informal) used to seeellos/ellas veíanThey used to seeustedes veíanYou all (formal) used to see

Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:  

• Yo veía a mi novio cada martes. (I used to see my boyfriend each Tuesday.)  
• Daniela veía a sus abuelos los domingos. (Daniela used to see her grandparents on Sundays.)

Good news! Ver is regular in the future tense, so you can apply the regular verb endings here.

The Future Tense of Ver

ConjugationTranslationyo veréI will seetú verásYou (informal) will seeél/ella/ello/uno veráHe/she/one will seeusted veráYou (formal) will seenosotros veremosWe will seevosotros veréisYou all (informal) will seeellos/ellas veránThey will seeustedes veránYou all (formal) will see

The following samples put the future tense to work:  

• Camila verá a una banda en vivo la próxima semana. (Camila will see a live band next week.)  
• Yo veré a mi primo esta semana. (I will see my cousin this week.)

In addition, Ver “to see” is a common verb. However, in many Spanish speaking countries people will use this verb to say someone is watching television, even though they are two kind of different things in English. Example: Kevin ve televisión únicamente los fines de semana. (Kevin watches television only on weekends.)

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