Which Spanish verbs are irregular in the preterite?
These verbs take a new stem in the preterite, and the stem is the part to learn: tener becomes tuv-, hacer hic-, decir dij-. The endings are then shared, whatever the infinitive ends in — andar is an -ar verb, and still anduve, anduviste, anduvo.
Hacer writes its él form with a z, to keep the sound before o: hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron.
Compounds keep the stem: mantener gives mantuve, obtener obtuve, proponer propuse, suponer supuse, prevenir previne, deshacer deshice. Every verb in -ducir does what conducir does — traduje, produje — and satisfacer goes with hacer: satisfice, satisfizo. The academies call satisfací incorrect, though not rare.
| New stem | Verbs | Preterite (yo) |
|---|---|---|
| -uv- | andar, estar, tener | anduve, estuve, tuve |
| -u- | poder, poner, saber | pude, puse, supe |
| -u- | caber, haber | cupe, hube |
| -i- | hacer, querer, venir | hice, quise, vine |
| -j- | decir, traer, conducir | dije, traje, conduje |
The endings, and why tuvo has no accent
A regular preterite is stressed on its ending and writes the accent there: hablé, habló, comí, comió. A strong preterite is stressed on the stem in yo and él — tuve, tuvo; dije, dijo; quise, quiso — so the -e and the -o are unstressed and carry no accent. Tuvó, dijó and hizó put habló's accent where it does not belong. A strong form carries an accent only to split two vowels — rehacer's rehíce and rehízo — never for its stress.
The ellos form ends in -ieron — tuvieron, hicieron, quisieron — except after a j, where it is -eron: dijeron, trajeron, condujeron, tradujeron. The academies' grammar records dijieron and trajieron in parts of Central America and the Antilles and calls them incorrect.
Traer's old preterite truje still turns up in a few rural areas and in a rhyme or two, but it never reached the standard language: traje, trajiste, trajo.
| Person | tener | hablar (regular) |
|---|---|---|
| yo | tuve | hablé |
| tú | tuviste | hablaste |
| él, ella, usted | tuvo | habló |
| nosotros | tuvimos | hablamos |
| vosotros | tuvisteis | hablasteis |
| ellos, ustedes | tuvieron | hablaron |
Ser and ir share fui; dar and ver: di, vi
Ser and ir have the same preterite, and the sentence tells them apart: fue un día largo is ser — it was a long day; fue a Madrid is ir — she went to Madrid.
Fui, fue, di, dio, vi and vio are one syllable each, and a one-syllable word takes no written accent unless it needs one to tell it from a twin: fue, dio, vio — not fué, dió, vió. The academies give fue and vio as their own examples.
Dar is an -ar verb with the endings of comer and vivir: di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron — the same shape as vi, viste, vio.
| Person | ser · ir | dar | ver |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | fui | di | vi |
| tú | fuiste | diste | viste |
| él, ella, usted | fue | dio | vio |
| nosotros | fuimos | dimos | vimos |
| vosotros | fuisteis | disteis | visteis |
| ellos, ustedes | fueron | dieron | vieron |
Not irregular, but they change: pidió, leyó, busqué
These keep the regular endings and change only in a few forms. The -ir verbs with a stem change close the vowel in él and ellos: pidió, pidieron; durmió, durmieron; sintió, sintieron; murió, murieron. The -ar and -er stem-changers are regular here: pensó, volvió.
Between two vowels the i of the ending becomes y — leyó, cayó, oyó, creyó, construyó, huyó — and the yo form of a verb in -car, -gar or -zar changes its spelling before é to keep the sound: busqué, llegué, empecé.
| What changes | Verb | Preterite |
|---|---|---|
| e → i in él, ellos | pedir | pidió, pidieron |
| o → u in él, ellos | dormir | durmió, durmieron |
| i → y between vowels | leer | leyó, leyeron |
| c → qu in yo | buscar | busqué |
| g → gu in yo | llegar | llegué |
| z → c in yo | empezar | empecé |
Why do English speakers get the irregular preterite wrong?
English has irregular pasts of its own — went, had, made — so the idea is familiar. What trips learners is how many everyday verbs are on the list and how natural the regular forms sound: tení, hací, poní and andé are what the rule would build. Then the accent gets copied from habló onto tuvo and dijo, and the -ieron of tuvieron onto dijeron.
Our own grading data shows how often. Nivelo grades every conversation turn and writing task against the grammar it uses. Across 49 learners and 913 preterite forms (recounted 24 September 2026), 35% were wrong: 39% at A2, 34% at B1, 25% at B2 and 27% at C1. The count covers every slip in the tense, form or use — an irregular form, an accent, or the preterite where the imperfect was wanted — so it measures the tense, not irregular forms alone. It is a count of our own learners, not a study.
What comes after the irregular preterite?
Preterite vs imperfect is the choice these forms feed — hice or hacía, fue or era. The imperfect tense is the other side, and the most regular tense of all: hacía, tenía, podía. The imperfect subjunctive is built on these stems: tuvieron gives tuviera, dijeron gives dijera. The present perfect is the other past, built with haber and its own irregular participles: he hecho, he dicho, he puesto. Stem-changing verbs are the present tense's irregulars — pienso, puedo, tengo — and the future tense has twelve verbs that shorten: tendré, podré, diré. Hace vs desde hace says how long ago it happened. The free Spanish level test places you on the A1–C2 scale in five minutes; what A2 Spanish means shows where the past tenses sit among the things an A2 learner is still building.