The Irregular Past

Last time, I introduced the two types of past in Spanish: the Preterite and the Imperfect. I covered the uses for each and showed you how to conjugate the regular verbs for both. Right now, I want to go over the irregular verbs using both the Preterite and the Imperfect.

There's a lot to cover, so let's dig in!

I'm going to run through the irregular Imperfect verbs first since there are so few of them. These verbs don't quite behave like their regular counterparts which is why they are classified as irregular. Luckily, there are only three (3) irregular verbs: Ser (to be), Ir (to go), and Ver (to see).

The Imperfect:

	Ser = to be	Ir = to go	Ver = to see
Yo	era	iba	veía
Tú	eras	ibas	veías
El, Ella, Vd.	era	iba	veía
Nosotros/Nosotras	éramos	íbamos	veíamos
Vosotros/Vosotras	erais	ibais	veíais
Ellos, Ellas, Vds.	eran	iban	veían

Please note a couple of things with the Imperfect irregulars above:

1. All the Nosotros/Nosotras forms have accent marks.
2. All of the conjugations of Ver has accent marks.

As I mentioned before, accent marks are important. So try to lay into the vowel with the accent to emphasize it.

The Preterite:

You will find that there are quite a few verbs with irregular conjugation forms in the Preterite. Some verbs will have changes in the stem (the first part of the verb) while others will change in the endings used.

For -AR, -ER, and -IR verbs that have major irregular changes in the Preterite, you will use the following endings with NO accent marks:

Yo	-e
Tú	-iste
El, Ella, Vd.	-o
Nosotros/Nosotras	-imos
Vosotros/Vosotras	-isteis
Ellos, Ellas, Vds.	-ieron (Note that irregular verbs placing a “j” at end of the stem will drop the “i” and only use “-eron”)

Here are some common -AR, -ER, and -IR irregular verbs in the Preterite:

	Yo	Tú	El, Ella, Vd.	Nosotros/Nosotras	Vosotros/Vosotras	Ellos, Ellas, Vds.
Andar = to walk	anduve	anduviste	anduvo	anduvimos	anduvisteis	anduvieron
Conducir = to drive	conduje	condujiste	condujo	condujimos	condujisteis	condujeron
Decir = to say	dije	dijiste	dijo	dijimos	dijisteis	dijeron
Estar = to be	estuve	estuviste	estuvo	estuvimos	estuvisteis	estuvieron
Hacer = to make/do	hice	hiciste	hizo	hicimos	hicisteis	hicieron
Poner = to put	puse	pusiste	puso	pusimos	pusisteis	pusieron
Poder = to be able to	pude	pudiste	pudo	pudimos	pudisteis	pudieron
Querer = to want/love	quise	quisite	quiso	quisimos	quisisteis	quisieron
Saber = to know	supe	supiste	supo	supimos	supisteis	supieron
Tener = to have	tuve	tuviste	tuvo	tuvimos	tuvisteis	tuvieron
Traer = to bring	traje	trajiste	trajo	trajimos	trajisteis	trajeron
Venir = to come	vine	viniste	vino	vinimos	vinisteis	vinieron

You'll want to note the following with irregular verbs:

1. Verbs that end in -UCIR such as Conducir (to drive) will drop the "c" and add a "j". The Ellos, Ellas, Vds. form will drop the "i" after the "j" and just be as follows: -jeron.
2. Verbs ending in -CAR, -GAR, and -ZAR will only change in the following way for the Yo form: "c" changes to "qu", "g" changes to "gu", and "z" changes to "c." Just keep the c, g, or z using all the other forms.
3. The "c" in the El, Ella, Vd. form of Hacer (to make/do) changes to a "z" in order to pronounce it correctly.

Smaller verbs with only two (2) or three (3) letters are slightly different in their Preterite forms. They will not have any accent marks because of their size. Here are their conjugations in the Preterite:

	Yo	Tú	El, Ella, Vd.	Nosotros/Nosotras	Vosotros/Vosotras	Ellos, Ellas, Vds.
Dar = to give	di	diste	dio	dimos	disteis	dieron
Ver = to see	vi	viste	vio	vimos	visteis	vieron
Ir = to go	fui	fuiste	fue	fuimos	fuisteis	fueron
Ser = to be	fui	fuiste	fue	fuimos	fuisteis	fueron

Notice that Dar (to give) uses the -ER and -IR Preterite verb endings rather than the -AR verb endings.

Also, both Ir (to go) and Ser (to be) use the exact same verb forms in the Preterite. Remember that context will guide you to know whether the person is referring to Ir or Ser. Going and being are mutually exclusive and will not make any sense when other clarifying words go with these verbs. The majority of the time, the person will be referring to Ir (to go). You'll want to review the difference between Ser and Estar to better grasp the Preterite meaning. Don't worry, I'll go over these two verbs in a future article.

It's important to practice!

In the comments section, please write five (5) sentences using the irregular Imperfect and Preterite.

You got through it! Congratulations! I hope it makes sense. If you have any questions or need anything clarified, please make a comment below.

¡Hasta luego!
~Keith