The preterite tense is the most difficult tense to learn in terms of conjugation. First review what you learned in 5.6.0.
Now we will continue with the conjugations of some irregular verbs in preterite tense.
Stem-changing verbs ending in -ir
In 4.3.0 you learned the 3 types of stem-changing verbs in the present tense: "e→i, o→ue, and e→i".
In 5.6.0 you learned that stem-changing verbs ending in "-ar" and "-er" are conjugated as regular verbs in the preterite.
You will now learn that stem-changing verbs ending in "-ir" have a stem-change only in the conjugations of "usted, él, ella" and "ustedes, ellos, ellas" (3rd person singular and plural). This stem-change is also different from the present tense. In preterite, you need to change "e→i, o→u". In the examples below, the preterite endings are in blue and the stem-change in the preterite conjugation is indicated in bold.
Present
Preterite
Present
Preterite
e → ie
preferir
prefieropreferimos
prefieres preferís
prefiereprefieren
e → i
preferir
preferípreferimos
preferiste preferisteis
prefirióprefirieron
o → ue
dormir
duermodormimos
duermes dormís
duermeduermen
o → u
dormir
dormídormimos
dorrmiste dormisteis
durmiódurmieron
Figure 1: Ayer Blanca se divirtió mucho en la cocina.Figure 2: El gato durmió muy bien anoche. Figure 3: El sábado pasado los camareros sirvieron comida deliciosa.
List of stem-changing verbs ending in "-ir"
Stem change "e" → "i"
The vowel highlighted in bold will have change "e" → "i" in the the conjugations of "usted, él, ella" and "ustedes, ellos, ellas" (3rd person singular and plural) in the preterite tense.
Spanish
English
advertir
to warn
conseguir
to get; to obtain
convertir
to convert
convertirse en
to become
despedir
to fire (job dismissal)
despedirse
to say goodbye
divertirse
to have fun
medir
to measure
mentir
to lie
pedir
to ask for (something)
preferir
to prefer
repetir
to repeat
seguir
to follow; to continue
sentir
to feel (regret)
sentirse
to feel
servir
to serve
vestir
to dress someone
vestirse
to get dressed
Stem change "o" → "u"
The vowel highlighted in bold will have change "o" → "u" in the the conjugations of "usted, él, ella" and "ustedes, ellos, ellas" (3rd person singular and plural) in the preterite tense.
Spanish
English
dormir
to sleep
dormirse
to fall asleep
morir
to die
morirse
to die off (of something, ie: of love)
Stems that end in a vowel for verbs ending in "-er" and "-ir"
Observe that the stem of "-er" and "-ir" ending verbs of the verbs "leer", "caer", "oír" and "huir" end in a vowel.
A written accent is needed on the "í" for the conjugations of "yo", "tú", "nosotros", and "vosotros".
The vowel "i" of the ending in the conjugations of "usted, él, ella" and "ustedes, ellos, ellas" will change to "y". This is because the endings for "-er" and "-ir" are "ió" and "ieron" (whereas, verbs ending in "-ar" are just "-o" and "-aron").
Leer - to read
Caer - to fall
Oír - to hear
Huír - to flee
leíleímos
leísteleísteis
leyó leyeron
caícaímos
caístecaísteis
cayó cayeron
oíoímos
oísteoísteis
oyó oyeron
huíhuímos
huístehuísteis
huyó huyeron
Note that in the conjugations above, the endings are in bold and the spelling change is indicated in blue.