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Pretérito Irregular

Certain Spanish verbs are irregular in the preterite tense and must be memorized. There are four main groups of irregular preterite verbs: U group, UV group, I group, and J group. Each group shares a common stem and uses regular endings. The document provides charts listing the forms of common irregular preterite verbs across all person/number combinations. Additionally, the meanings of querer, conocer and saber slightly change in the preterite tense. The verbs ir and ser also share the same irregular preterite forms.

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Jacob Tout
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874 views2 pages

Pretérito Irregular

Certain Spanish verbs are irregular in the preterite tense and must be memorized. There are four main groups of irregular preterite verbs: U group, UV group, I group, and J group. Each group shares a common stem and uses regular endings. The document provides charts listing the forms of common irregular preterite verbs across all person/number combinations. Additionally, the meanings of querer, conocer and saber slightly change in the preterite tense. The verbs ir and ser also share the same irregular preterite forms.

Uploaded by

Jacob Tout
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Irregular Preterites: Describes irregular preterite verbs in Spanish, covering various common endings and distinguishing features.
  • Meaning Changes in the Preterite: Examines verbs with altered meanings in the preterite, focusing on 'ir' and 'ser' with specific examples.

Irregular Preterites

Certain verbs in the preterite are completely irregular and need to be memorized.
However, they can be divided into 4 groups and share common endings. The
irregular preterite endings are as follows:

Yo – e
Tú – iste
É l/Ella/Ud. – o
Nosotros – imos
Vosotros – isteis
Ellos/Ellas/Uds. – ieron*

Irregular preterite endings do not have accent marks.


The third person plural ending of the preterite J group is “eron”, not ieron.

There are four irregular preterite groups that are based on the irregular stems of the
verbs. To form the irregular preterites, you use the irregular stems and pair them
with the above endings.

U Group: poner – pus, poder – pud, saber – sup


UV Group: estar – estuv, tener – tuv, andar – anduv (to walk)
I Group: hacer – hic, querer – quis, venir – vin
J Group: traer – traj, all verbs that end in “cir”; decir – dij, traducir – traduj (to
translate), conducir – conduj (to drive)

The third person singular form of hacer is “hizo”

Below is a chart of all of the above-mentioned irregular preterites:

Yo Tú É l/Ella/U Nosotros Vosotros Ellos/Uds.


d.
poner puse pusiste puso pusimos pusisteis pusieron

poder pude pudiste pudo pudimos pudisteis pudieron

saber supe supiste supo supimos supisteis supieron

estar estuv estuvist estuvo estuvimo estuvistei estuviero


e e s s n
tener tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvisteis tuvieron
andar anduv anduvis anduvo anduvim anduviste anduviero
e te os is n
hacer hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicisteis hicieron

querer quise quisiste quiso quisimos quisisteis quisieron

venir vine viniste vino vinimos vinisteis vinieron

traer traje trajiste trajo trajimos trajisteis trajeron

decir dije dijiste dijo dijimos dijisteis dijeron

traduc traduj tradujis tradujo tradujim tradujiste tradujero


ir e te os is n

conduc conduj condujis condujo condujim condujiste condujero


ir e te os is n

Meaning Changes in the Preterite

There are a few verbs whose meanings slightly change when used in the preterite
verb tense. This is because the preterite is only used for one time or limited past
actions (this will make more sense after you learn about the imperfect verb tense).

Querer – to want, in the preterite “to try”


Conocer – to know (person), in the preterite “to meet”
Saber – to know (fact, information), in the preterite “to find out”

Ir and Ser

The verbs Ir and Ser have the same irregular preterite forms. The meanings of the
verbs can be determined through the context of the sentence.

yo fui nosotros fuimos


tú fuiste vosotros fuisteis
ella fue ellos fueron

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