Español — Irregular preterite

A group of very common verbs form the preterite with an irregular stem and a shared set of unstressed endings: tener → tuve, hacer → hice, decir → dije.

How it works

✓ Rule

Learn the irregular stem, then add the shared endings -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron with no accent on any form: tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron.

Examples

Irregular stems and the 1st person singular (yo)
Infinitive → yo	Meaning
tener → tuve	to have
hacer → hice	to do, to make
poder → pude	to be able to
poner → puse	to put
venir → vine	to come
saber → supe	to know
decir → dije	to say, to tell
ser / ir → fui	to be / to go

Good to know

⚠ Note

Verbs with a j-stem (decir → dije, traer → traje) drop the i in the third person plural: dijeron, trajeron, not "dijieron". Note also estar → estuve, querer → quise; ser and ir share fui/fue; and dar/ver take -er endings without accents: di, dio, vi, vio.