The fifteen strong preterites that cannot be derived
Regular verbs in the indefinido are stem plus ending, and there are only two sets of endings. The catch is that the commonest verbs in the language stay outside that order. For example: “No pude venir ayer” — I could not come yesterday. A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Regular verbs in the indefinido are stem plus ending, and there are only two sets of endings. The catch is that the commonest verbs in the language stay outside that order.
Their stem changes whole: tener → tuv-, hacer → hic-, poder → pud-, poner → pus-. The same happens to decir → dij-, venir → vin-, saber → sup-.
All fifteen then take the same endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. The stress stays on the stem and no accent is written: tuve, not tuvé; hizo, not hizó. Regular verbs demand that accent, which is why this is the commonest slip.
Two details. Hacer turns c into z in the él form: hizo. Stems in -j lose the i: dijeron, not dijieron.
Table
| verb | I | he/she | we |
|---|---|---|---|
| ser / ir | fui | fue | fuimos |
| estar | estuve | estuvo | estuvimos |
| tener | tuve | tuvo | tuvimos |
| hacer | hice | hizo | hicimos |
| poder | pude | pudo | pudimos |
| poner | puse | puso | pusimos |
| decir | dije | dijo | dijimos |
| venir | vine | vino | vinimos |
| dar | di | dio | dimos |
| ver | vi | vio | vimos |
| querer | quise | quiso | quisimos |
| saber | supe | supo | supimos |
| haber | hube | hubo | hubimos |
| traer | traje | trajo | trajimos |
| andar | anduve | anduvo | anduvimos |
By example
- No pude venir ayerI could not come yesterday
- ¿Qué te dijo el médico?What did the doctor say to you?
- Tuvimos que esperar una horaWe had to wait an hour
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
The fifteen strong preterites that cannot be derived: how does it work in Spanish?
Regular verbs in the indefinido are stem plus ending, and there are only two sets of endings. The catch is that the commonest verbs in the language stay outside that order.
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“No pude venir ayer” — I could not come yesterday. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.