Home / Courses / Spanish 2 / Unit 3

Spanish 2 Unit 3: The Preterite: Irregular Verbs

This unit covers the most common irregular preterite verbs, the -ir stem changers, and verbs whose meaning shifts in the preterite.

Covers: Ser and ir, Dar and ver, U-stem verbs (tener, estar, poder, poner, saber), I-stem verbs (hacer, querer, venir), J-stem verbs (decir, traer, -ducir), -ir stem-changing verbs in the third person, Verbs that change meaning in the preterite

Study guide

Several of the most common Spanish verbs are irregular in the preterite, and you need them constantly. Ser and ir have identical forms: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. Context tells you which verb is meant: fui a la playa (I went to the beach) uses ir, while la película fue buena (the movie was good) uses ser. Dar and ver are simple but irregular: dar uses -er/-ir endings (di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron), and ver is vi, viste, vio, vimos, visteis, vieron. None of these one-syllable forms needs a written accent, so dió and fué are spelling mistakes.

A large group of verbs uses an irregular stem plus a special set of unaccented endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. The u-stem verbs are tener (tuv-), estar (estuv-), poder (pud-), poner (pus-), saber (sup-) and andar (anduv-). The i-stem verbs are hacer (hic-), querer (quis-) and venir (vin-). The él form of hacer is spelled hizo, with z, to keep the s sound before o. Because the stress falls on the stem, these forms never carry written accents: tuve, puso, vino. Memorize the stems as a list, because the endings are always the same once you know the stem.

The j-stem verbs are decir (dij-), traer (traj-) and verbs ending in -ducir such as conducir (conduj-) and traducir (traduj-). They use the same irregular endings except in the ellos form, where the i disappears after j: dijeron, trajeron, condujeron. Writing dijieron is a very common error. A separate group is the -ir stem-changing verbs. Unlike -ar and -er stem changers, these do change in the preterite, but only in the third person singular and plural. E becomes i (pedir → pidió, pidieron; preferir → prefirió; servir → sirvió) and o becomes u (dormir → durmió, durmieron; morir → murió). The yo, tú and nosotros forms are regular: pedí, dormiste, pedimos.

Some verbs take on a special meaning in the preterite because the preterite focuses on the beginning or completion of a state. Saber means to find out (supe la verdad), conocer means to meet for the first time (conocí a Ana), poder means to manage to (pude abrir la puerta), and no poder means to fail (no pude dormir). Querer means to try (quise ayudar), and no querer means to refuse (no quiso venir). Tener can mean to receive or get (tuve una carta). On tests, these meaning changes often appear in translation questions, and they set up the preterite versus imperfect contrast you will study in Unit 5.

Key ideas

• Ser and ir share the same preterite forms; context decides the meaning.
• Irregular stems take unaccented endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron.
• J-stem verbs use -eron, not -ieron, in the ellos form.
• -ir stem changers change e→i or o→u only in the third person preterite.
• One-syllable preterite forms like di, dio, vi and fue have no accent.
• Saber, conocer, poder and querer change meaning in the preterite.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Adding accents to irregular forms, as in tuvó or dió.
• Writing dijieron or trajieron instead of dijeron and trajeron.
• Applying the -ir stem change to yo, as in pidí or durmí.
• Spelling hizo as hico.
• Translating supe as I knew instead of I found out.

Before the test, make sure you can

• Conjugate ser, ir, dar and ver in the preterite without extra accents.
• Recall the u-stem, i-stem and j-stem preterite stems.
• Use -eron after j in the ellos form.
• Apply e→i and o→u changes to -ir verbs in the third person only.
• Tell whether fue comes from ser or ir in context.
• Translate preterite saber, conocer, poder and querer with their special meanings.
• Correct common spelling errors such as hico, dió and dijieron.

Words to know

ser / ir

to be / to go

dar

to give

ver

to see

hacer

to do, to make

tener

to have

estar

to be

poder

to be able

poner

to put

saber

to know (a fact)

querer

to want

venir

to come

decir

to say, to tell

traer

to bring

pedir

to ask for, to order

servir

to serve

preferir

to prefer

dormir

to sleep

morir

to die

divertirse

to have fun

la fiesta

party

la reunión

meeting

la cita

appointment, date

conducir

to drive

traducir

to translate

Sample practice questions

30 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.