Irregular Verbs in the Preterit Tense

Regular Preterit Endings

-ar

-é -amos

-aste asteis

-ó -aron

-er/-ir

-í -imos

-iste isteis

-ió -ieron

Irregular Preterit Verbs

Unfortunately, many of the most common verbs in Spanish are irregular in the preterit tense. Fortunately, even the irregular verbs follow patterns.

Ser and Ir

Ser / Irfui fuimos

fuiste fuisteisfue fueron

Ser and ir, although they mean completely different things, are identical in the preterit tense. Context and the a that usually follows ir are the only ways to determine whether ser or ir is being used.

Miguel fue al banco. Miguel fue un alumno estupéndo.

The a following fue indicates that it is a

form of ir.

CONTEXT: Chances are, Miguel was never a bank. This suggests that fue is not a form of ser in this sentence.

The absence of a following fue

indicates that it is a form of ser.

CONTEXT: It is feasible that Miguel was a stupendous student, which would support the possibility that fue is a form of ser in this sentence.

Estar and Tener

Estar – to beestuve estuvimosestuviste estuvisteisestuvo estuvieron

Tener – to havetuve tuvimostuviste tuvisteistuvo tuvieron

Many irregular preterit verbs share the same endings.

Common Irregular Preterit Endings

-e -imos-iste isteis

-o -ieron

Hacer, querer, venir, saber, traer, poder, and poner all share these endings. However, their stems change before adding these endings.

Infinitive Stem (in the Preterit) Endings

hacer hic-*

-e-iste

-o-imosisteis-ieron

querer quis-

venir vin-

saber sup-

traer traj-

poder pud-

poner pus-

Estar Estuv -

Tener Tuv -

Conducir Conduj-

Decir Dij-

* Hic- changes to hiz- in the third-person singular (hizo) to preserve the “s” sound that is present in the other preterit forms of hacer.

Verbs that end with -eer

Verbs that end with –eer are irregular in the preterit tense, but are alike. Look at the following examples:

leerleí leímosleíste leísteisleyó leyeron

creercreí creímoscreíste creísteiscreyó creyeron

Oir

• Oir fits in the same category with verbs that end in “-eer” w/ accents on all “I’s” and “y” in the bottom of the boot.

Oí Oímos

Oíste Oísteis

Oyó Oyeron

Verbos that end in “uir”

• Similar to verbs that end in “eer” but do not have accents on all forms.

Construir

Construí Construimos

Construiste Construisteis

Construyó Construyeron

VerVi Vimos

Viste Visteis

Vio Vieron

DarDi Dimos

Diste Disteis

Dio Dieron

Haber

• Hay – There is/are• Habia – There was/ were • *****Hubo****** – There was/were