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