5.11: Los pretéritos irregulares, parte 2

Spanish 1A: Beginning Spanish (2026) · LibreTexts

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    Irregular preterites, part 2

    In the preterit tense, there are a few verbs with irregular stem. These irregular verbs do not have written accent on the verb conjugation (as compared to the regular verbs in the preterit tense). The irregular stem can be categorized by:

    • The -u- stem
    • The -i- stem
    • The -j- stem

    Irregular stems in the preterit tense

    In the charts below, the irregular stems are in bold.

    -u- stem

    Verb Irregular stem

    andar 

    anduv- pud-

    estar

    estuv-

    haber

    hub- 

    poder

    pud- 

    poner, suponer, proponer

    pus-, supus-, propus-

    saber

    sup-

    tener

    tuv-

    -i- stem

    Verb Irregular stem
    hacer hic- , hiz- (Use "z", instead of "c", in the conjugations of "usted", "él", and "ella".)
    querer quis-
    venir vin- 

    -j- stem

    Verb Irregular stem
    conducir conduj-
    decir dij-
    producir produj-
    reducir reduj-
    traducir traduj-
    traer traj-

    Verb conjugations in the preterite tense

    All verbs with irregular stems in the preterite, have the same set of endings when cojugated. Moreover, none of them need an accent mark. The verb conjugation for -u- stem and the -i- stem differs from the -j- stem in the 3rd person plural: "ustedes", "ellos", and "ellas" form, since verbs with -j- stem do not have an "i" in their ending. This spelling change is noted in bold in the chart below. Let’s review the chart below:

    Subject

    The -u- and -i- stem

    The -j- stem

    Examples of verb conjugations

    Yo

    e

    e

    Yo: pude, hice, traje (poder, hacer, traer)

    Tú

    iste

    iste

    Tú: supiste, hiciste, condujiste (saber, hacer, conducir)

    Él/Ella/Usted

    o

    o

    Ud., Él, Ella: *hubo (pretérite for “hay”), (haber)

    hizo (hacer), condujo (conducir)

    Nosotros/as

    imos

    imos

    Nosotros/as: tuvimos, vinimos, produjimos (tener, venir, producir)

    Vosotros/as

    isteis

    isteis

    Vosotros/as: estuvisteis, quisisteis, tradujisteis (estar, querer, traducir)

    Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes

    ieron

    eron

    Ellos/Ellas/Uds.: pusieron, hicieron (poner, hacer)

    Ellos/Ellas/Uds.: trajeron, condujeron, produjeron, tradujeron, redujeron, dijeron (traer, conducir, producir, traducir, reducer, decir)

    Ejemplos

    Hubo una fiesta de cumpleaños en la casa de Mariela.

    Mi amiga Gabriela quiso ir pero no pudo. Ella tuvo que trabajar.

    Anoche Mateo hizo ejercicios en el gimnasio.

    Los amigos de Mariela le trajeron regalos para ella.

    A Practicar

    This page titled 5.11: Los pretéritos irregulares, parte 2 was last modified on Tue, 11 Aug 2026 22:17:24 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Cristina Moon.