Irregular Preterite in Spanish: the pretérito grave verbs
Short answer
A group of verbs takes a new stem and one shared set of unstressed endings -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron: tuve, estuve, pude, puse, hice, quise, vine, dije. Ser and ir share a single form: fui, fuiste, fue.
Level A2 · verbs, past, indefinido, irregular
The rule in full
Strong preterites. New stem + one shared set of endings — and no accents.
Endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron
| Verb | Stem | yo | él |
|---|---|---|---|
| tener | tuv- | tuve | tuvo |
| estar | estuv- | estuve | estuvo |
| poder | pud- | pude | pudo |
| poner | pus- | puse | puso |
| saber | sup- | supe | supo |
| hacer | hic- | hice | hizo |
| querer | quis- | quise | quiso |
| venir | vin- | vine | vino |
Stems ending in j drop the i: -eron, not -ieron.
- decir → dij- → dijeron; traer → traj- → trajeron; conducir → conduj- → condujeron
Completely irregular
| ser / ir | dar | ver | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | fui | di | vi |
| tú | fuiste | diste | viste |
| él | fue | dio | vio |
| nosotros | fuimos | dimos | vimos |
| vosotros | fuisteis | disteis | visteis |
| ellos | fueron | dieron | vieron |
ser and ir are identical — context tells them apart: Fui médico / Fui a Madrid.
Keep this rule where you will actually see it again
Trazo is a notebook for your real lessons: rules become cards, words go into spaced repetition, and your own examples sit next to both. This rule goes in with one click — the rest of the notebook is yours to fill.