Irregular Preterite

Kurz erklärt

Several common Spanish verbs have irregular forms in the preterite. Most use a special stem and their own set of endings, without written accents. Important stems include tuv- (tener), estuv- (estar), pud- (poder), pus- (poner), quis- (querer), sup- (saber), vin- (venir), hic- (hacer), dij- (decir), and traj- (traer). Ser and ir share the forms fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron; context shows which verb is meant.

Bildung

Irregular stem + -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -ieron. Stems ending in j use -eron for ellos/ellas/ustedes. Key exceptions include hizo (not hico) and fui/fuiste/fue/fuimos/fueron for both ser and ir.

Verwendung

• Use these forms for completed past actions involving common irregular verbs.
• Learn each irregular stem together with the regular set of irregular endings.
• Use context to distinguish between forms of ser and ir.

Beispiele

• Ayer tuve una reunión importante. — Yesterday I had an important meeting.
• María hizo la cena anoche. — María made dinner last night.
• Fuimos al mercado temprano. — We went to the market early.
• Ellos dijeron la verdad. — They told the truth.

Typischer Fehler

❌ Yo tení mucho trabajo ayer.

✅ Yo tuve mucho trabajo ayer.

Tener does not use a regular preterite ending. It uses the irregular stem tuv- and the first-person ending -e: tuve.

Merke

Irregular preterite stems do not carry written accents. Learn fui separately and remember that it belongs to both ser and ir.