Spanish Preterite Tense - Conjugation of Irregular Verbs (I)

After having reviewed the conjugation of the Preterite Tense for Regular Verbs (See Preterite Tense Conjugation - Regular Verbs.), now it is time to learn how irregular Spanish verbs are conjugated in the Preterite.

There are four Spanish verbs that you should memorize; they are irregular in the preterite tense: (Click and listen)

	DAR (TO GIVE)	HACER (TO MAKE, TO DO)	SER (TO BE)	IR (TO GO)
Yo	di (I gave)	hice (I made, I did)	fui (I was)	fui (I went)
Tu	diste (You gave)	hiciste (You made, you did)	fuiste (you was)	fuiste (you went)
El / Ella	dio (he/she gave)	hizo (he/she made, did)	fue (he/she was)	fue (he/she went)
Nosotros / Nosotras	dimos (we gave)	hicimos (we made, did)	fuimos (we were)	fuimos (we went)
Vosotros / Vosotras	disteis (you gave)	hicisteis (you made, did)	fuisteis (you were)	fuisteis (you went)
Ellos / Ellas	dieron (they gave)	hicieron (they made, did)	fueron (they were)	fueron (they went)
	DAR conjugation	HACER conjugation	SER conjugation	IR conjugation

Note

Mis padres nos dieron dos manzanas

(My parents gave us two apples)

Les hice venir

(I made them come)

Yo fui un buen estudiante

(I was a good student)

Ayer fui al mercado

(Yesterday I went to the market)

A group of verbs, irregular in the preterite, change their stems when conjugated in this tense, but all of them adopt the same endings:

(yo) -e
(tu) -iste
(el) -o
(nosotros) -imos
(vosotros) -isteis
(ellos / ustedes) -ieron

For example, the verb estar belongs to this group, as it changes its stem when conjugated in Preterite tense: Infinitive: estar - Preterite Stem Change --> estuv-

So, its Preterite conjugations is:

yo) estuve
(tu) estuviste
(él) estuvo
(nosotros) estuvimos
(vosotros) estuvisteis
(ellos / ustedes) estuvieron

All the verbs included in this classification and their corresponding Preterite conjugations are:

	Andar (To walk)	Caber (To fit in)	Estar (To be)	Haber (To have)
Preterite stem change:	anduv-	cup-	estuv-	hub-
Yo Tu El / Ella Nosotros Vosotros Ellos / Ustedes	anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvisteis anduvieron	cupe cupiste cupo cupimos cupisteis cupieron	estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvisteis estuvieron	hube hubiste hubo hubimos hubisteis hubieron

	Hacer (To make, to do)	Poder (To be able)	Poner (To put)	Querer (To want, to love)
Preterite stem change:	hic-	pud-	pus-	quis-
Yo Tu El / Ella Nosotros Vosotros Ellos / Ustedes	hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicisteis hicieron	pude pudiste pudo pudimos pudisteis pudieron	puse pusiste puso pusimos pusisteis pusieron	quise quisiste quiso quisimos quisisteis quisieron

	Saber (To know)	Tener (To have)	Venir (To come)
Preterite stem change:	sup-	tuv-	vin-
Yo Tu El / Ella Nosotros Vosotros Ellos / Ustedes	supe supiste supo supimos supisteis supieron	tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvisteis tuvieron	vine viniste vino vinimos vinisteis vinieron

There are more grammar points about Irregular verbs and they Preterite conjugation that we'll study soon. Meanwhile, as always, for any question or comment, feel free to e-mail me.

¡Hasta pronto!

Angeles F.

'Click and listen' glossary: (alphabetical order):

andar = to walk

ayer = yesterday

buen = good

caber = to fit in

dos = two

estar = to be

estudiante = student

haber = to have

hacer= to make, to do

les = them

manzana = apple

mercado = market

mis = my

nos = us

padres = parents

poder = (v) to be able / (n) power

poner = to put

querer = to want, to love

saber = (v) to know

tener = to have

venir = to come

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