(Grossly) Irregular Preterite Forms

There are a fair number of irregular conjugationsforms in the Preterite.  These Irregular forms in the Preterite are said to have "radical" changes, that is, vowel and consonant changes in the root (or stem of the verb) so that changes occur in all of the conjugations (including the nosotros form.)   These Irregular preterite changes are NOT for orthographic (spelling) reasons (like the verbs ending in -Car, -Gar and -Zar) nor are the changes in vowels similar to regular stem-changing verbs which affect certain -Ir conjugations in the Preterite. Verbs which have an Irregular Preterite form have their own conjugation - different from the established -Ar, -Er/-Ir Preterite conjugation pattern.

All Verbs with grossly irregular changes in the Preterite follow this conjugation:
 
-Ar, -Er, -Ir
Yo
-e
Tú
-iste
Él, ella, usted
-o
Nosotros
-imos
Ellos, ellas, ustedes

1. -ieron

Verbs with a "J" stem use:

2. -eron

! Notice that these conjugation endings do NOT have accent marks!

Here are some common Irregular verbs in the Preterite:

Yo tú él, ella, usted nosotros ellos, ellas, ustedes
Andar anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvieron
 Conducir* conduje condujiste condujo condujimos condujeron
Decir* dije dijiste dijo dijimos dijeron
Estar estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvieron
Hacer hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicieron
Poner puse pusiste puso pusimos pusieron
Poder pude pudiste pudo pudimos pudieron
Querer quise quisiste quiso quisimos quisieron
Saber supe supiste supo supimos supieron
Tener tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvieron
Traer* traje trajiste trajo trajimos trajeron
Venir vine viniste vino vinimos vinieron
*Irregulars which use a "J" in the Preterite only add "-eron" (NOT "-ieron") to the third-person plural

 

Other verbs which are irregular in the Preterite
Dar di diste dio dimos dieron

Dar is often humorously referred to as the "cross-dressing" verb, because in the Preterite Dar takes on the -Er/-Ir verb endings rather than -Ar verb endings.
 
Ver vi viste vio vimos vieron
Verbs with only 2 or 3 letters, such as Dar, Ser, Ir and Ver, also do not wear accent marks in the Preterite.
 
Ir & Ser fui fuiste fue fuimos fueron
Notice that Ir and Ser share the same forms in the Preterite.  The context of a sentence or a conversation will let you know which is being used.  For example:
  • Fui al supermercado  clearly means "I went to the supermarket," not  *"I was to the supermarket."
  • Most of the time the Preterite form will nearly always be Ir (an action verb) rather than Ser (a descriptive verb) which is usually conjugated in the Imperfect Past tense.
While there are more irregulars in the Preterite past tense than in any other tense, the good news is that Spanish makes up for it with a 99.99% regular Imperfect past tense!
Practice on the Web! Stem-changers! More Practice! Spelling changes! Loads of Practice! Still more! Ser and Ir!

 

The Regular Preterite

 

 The Imperfect The Preterite vs. the Imperfect past tense
Stem-changers in the Preterite Changes in Meaning in the Preterite Back to the Verbs page! Spelling (orthographic) changes in the Preterite
Copyright © 2000 Deborah R. Lemon. All rights reserved.