Spanish Preterite Tense - Conjugation of Irregular Verbs (II)

It is time to go on reviewing the Preterite tense conjugation of Spanish irregular verbs. We have already learned that there are four Spanish verbs, irregular in the preterite, that should be memorized, and also about a group of verbs, irregular in the preterite, that change their stems when conjugated in this tense, but adopting all of them the same endings. (See Spanish Preterite Tense - Conjugation of Irregular Verbs -I-).

So, let’s continue studying how to conjugate more irregular Spanish verbs. ¿Preparados?

There are some First and Second conjugation verbs (-ar, -er) that, although they change their stem in the present tense, when conjugated in the preterite, they don’t change it:

	CERRAR (TO CLOSE)		ENTENDER (TO UNDERSTAND)
	PRESENT TENSE	PRETERITE TENSE	PRESENT TENSE	PRETERITE TENSE
Yo	cierro (I close)	cerré (I closed)	entiendo (I understand)	entendí (I understood)
Tu	cierras (you close)	cerraste (you closed)	entiendes (you understand)	entendiste (you understood)
El / Ella	cierra (he/she closes)	cerró (he/she closed)	entiende (he/she understands)	entendió (he/she understood)
Nosotros / Nosotras	cerramos (we close)	cerramos (we closed)	entendemos (we understand)	entimos (we understood)
Vosotros / Vosotras	cerráis (you close)	cerrasteis (you closed)	entendéis (you understand)	entendisteis (you understood)
Ellos / Ellas	cierran (they close)	cerraron (they closed)	entienden (they understand)	entendieron (they understood)
	CERRAR Present conjugation	CERRAR Preterite conjugation	ENTENDER Present conjugation	ENTENDER Preterite conjugation

And those -ir verbs (Third conjugation) that change their stems in the present, also change them in the preterite, but only with third persons (singular and plural, that’s (él - ella - ellos - ellas), and in a different way: Letter 'e' in the stem changes to 'i', and letter 'o' in the stem changes to 'u'

	VESTIR (TO CLOTHE) ('e' --> 'i')		MORIR (TO DIE) ('o' --> 'u')
	PRESENT TENSE	PRETERITE TENSE	PRESENT TENSE	PRETERITE TENSE
Yo Tu Él Nosotros Vosotros Ellos	visto vistes viste vestimos vestís visten	vestí vestiste vistió vestimos vestisteis vistieron	muero mueres muere morimos morís mueren	morí moriste murió morimos moristeis murieron

Preterite orthographic changes:

Verbs ending in –zar: “z” changes to “c” (before “e”).
Finalizar: finalicé – finalizaste – finalizó – finalizamos – finalizasteis – finalizaron

Verbs ending in –car: “c” changes to “gu” (before “e”).
Aparcar: aparqué – aparcaste – aparcó – aparcamos – aparcasteis – aparcaron

Verbs ending in –gar: “g” changes to “gu” (before “e”)
Apagar: apagué – apagaste – apagó – apagamos – apagasteis – apagaron

Verbs ending in –aer, -eer, -oer, -uir and - oir à “-ió” and “-ieron” become “-yó” and “-yeron” (3rd person singular and plural). The rest (yo – tu – usted – nosotros – vosotros ) gain an accent on letter i. (í):

Caer: caí – caíste - cayó – caímos – caísteis - cayeron
Creer: creí – creíste - creyó – creímos – creísteis - creyeron
Roer: roí – roíste - royó – roímos – roísteis - royeron
Huir: huí – huiste - huyó – huimos – huisteis – huyeron (*)
Oír : oí – oíste - oyó – oímos – oísteis – oyeron
(*) – Verbs ending in –uir: the accent on letter “i” only for first person singular (yo).

Verbs ending in –cir have a different conjugation for the preterite tense:
Conducir
Yo conduje
Tu condujiste
El / Ella condujo
Nosotros condujimos
Vosotros condujisteis
Ellos / Ustedes condujeron

There are three verbs that, although they do not end in –cir, they also have this irregular conjugation: Traer, Atraer and Distraer.

As always, for any question or comment, feel free to e-mail me.

¡Hasta pronto!

Angeles F.

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

apagar = to turn off

aparcar = to park

atraer = to attract

caer = to fall

cerrar = to close

conducir = to drive

creer = to think, to believe

distraer = to distract

entender = to understand

finalizar = to finish, to end

huir= to run away, to escape

oir = to hear

¿Preparados? = Ready?

roer = to gnaw

traer = to bring

vestir = to clothe

morir = to die

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