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Verbs with irregular unstressed preterite endings
On this page, we look at certain common verbs that have irregular
preterite (simple past tense) forms.
In general, the stress falls on the first syllable of the preterite ending in Spanish:
dormí, dormiste,
durmió etc.
However, there are a handful of Spanish verbs that have irregular preterite forms. These
preterite forms have the following features:
- they may have an irregular stem (e.g. decir
has the stem dij-: dije, dijiste etc);
- in the yo and él/ella forms,
the endings are -e and -o, rather than
-í and -ió (for example,
he/she put = puso, not
pusió);
- in the yo and él/ella forms
of these verbs, the stress therefore falls on the syllable before the ending.
Here are some common verbs with irregular preterite forms that follow this pattern:
Verb | Stem | yo form | él/ella form | Other forms |
andar to go, walk | anduv- | anduve I went/walked | anduvo he/she went/walked | anduviste, anduvimos, anduvisteis, anduvieron |
caber to fit | cup- | cupe I fit | cupo he/she fit | cupiste, cupimos, cupisteis, cupieron |
decir to say | dij- | dije I said | dijo he/she said | dijiste, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron1 |
estar to be | estuv- | estuve I was | estuvo he/she was | estuviste, estuvimos,
estuvisteis, estuvieron |
hacer to do, make | hic- | hice I did
| hizo2 he/she did | hiciste, hicioms, hicisteis, hicieron. |
poder to be able | pud- | pude I could, was able to | pudo he/she could, was able to | pudiste, pudimos, pudisteis, pudieron |
poner to put | pus- | puse I put | puso he/she put | pusiste, pusimos, pusisteis, pusieron |
producir3 to produce | produj- | produje I produced | produjo he/she produced | produjiste, produjimos, produjisteis, produjeron1 |
querer to want | quis- | quise I wanted | quiso he/she wanted | quisiste, quisimos, quisisteis, quisieron |
saber to know, find out | sup- | supe I found out | supo he/she found out | supiste, supimos, supisteis, supieron |
tener to have (to) | tuv- | tuve I had (to) | tuvo he/she had (to) | tuviste, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron |
1. Notice that where the stem ends in j (as in dij-), the
i is dropped from the ending -(i)eron, giving dijeron.
2. The c changes to z to preserve the representation of the [s] sound.
3. Other verbs ending in -ducir follow a similar pattern.
Practise irregular preterites
In this exercise, you can practise the above forms by filling in the grid below with
the appropriate preterite forms.
Further reading
Once you've mastered the forms presented on this page (plus other preterite
forms, including regular preterite forms
plus preterite forms with a vowel change,
you may wish to look at
Español-Inglés home
Introduction to Spanish verbs
Spanish-English dictionary
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