The irregular preterites: fui, tuve, hice, dije
You will learn the irregular Spanish simple past forms that show up constantly in stories and films. Instead of memorizing a long list, you will group them into families, which makes them easier to recognize and use.
The rule
In the Spanish simple past (indefinido), many high frequency verbs are not regular. The good news is that most of the irregular ones belong to families. If you learn the family pattern, you can recognize and produce several verbs quickly.
1) The “strong” group. These verbs use an irregular stem and then one shared set of endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. The key feature is spelling: these endings never carry a written accent. So if you see a form ending in -e or -o with no accent and a strange looking stem, it is often one of these.
At a glance
Strong forms, irregular stems and one yo example
| Infinitivo | Raíz | Yo |
|---|---|---|
| tener | tuv- | tuve |
| estar | estuv- | estuve |
| poder | pud- | pude |
| poner | pus- | puse |
| saber | sup- | supe |
| hacer | hic- | hice |
| querer | quis- | quise |
| venir | vin- | vine |
| decir | dij- | dije |
| traer | traj- | traje |
Heard in real Spanish
Native speakers on YouTube, in videos about something other than grammar. The notion is in pink. Each clip starts a second before the line.
Surgió la filosofía: el amor por la sabiduría.
Philosophy emerged: the love of wisdom.
¿Qué es la FILOSOFÍA y qué tiene que ver con la ciencia? by CuriosaMente · Watch on YouTube
"Ford es una marca para familias", argumentaron.
"Ford is a brand for families," they argued.
Cómo Nació el Ford Mustang: La Historia de un Sueño Hecho Realidad by Cultura y Motores · Watch on YouTube
Examples
- Ayer tuve un problema en casa.Yesterday I had a problem at home.tener uses the stem tuv- with strong endings and no accent.
- La semana pasada estuve en Madrid.Last week I was in Madrid.estuve is a strong form of estar.
- No pude pagar con tarjeta.I couldn’t pay by card.poder becomes pud-: pude, pudiste, pudo.
What to remember
- Strong forms use an irregular stem and the endings -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron with no written accent.
- hacer: yo hice, but 3rd person singular is hizo.
- decir and traer: 3rd person plural drops the i, dijeron, trajeron.
- ser and ir share fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron, context decides.
- dar is -ar, but in the simple past it goes di, diste, dio.
Check yourself
1 Choose the correct yo form of tener for a finished past event.
- tuve
- tení
- tené
- tenido
Show the answer
tuve. tener uses the stem tuv- plus -e: tuve.
2 Complete the sentence with the correct form.
Anoche ___ al cine.
- fui
- fue
- voy
- fuiste
Show the answer
fui. With yo, the correct form is fui.
Take the full lesson
“The irregular preterites” in the Streal course: the whole explanation, the quiz, and every YouTube extract picked for it. Free to start, nothing to install. The full lesson goes on with the rest of the explanation and more examples, the common mistakes and the practice quiz.