I-Stem Irregulars (Hacer, Querer, Venir) | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

Three very common verbs — hacer, querer, and venir — form the preterite with an irregular i-stem. They share the same unaccented endings as the u-stem irregulars, so once you know that pattern, these slot right in.

The shared endings

Subject	Ending
yo	-e
tú	-iste
él / ella / usted	-o
nosotros	-imos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	-ieron

Notice again: no written accents on the yo and él forms. The stress sits on the stem.

The i-stems

Infinitive	I-Stem
hacer	hic-
querer	quis-
venir	vin-

Hacer (to do, to make)

Hacer has one extra twist: in the él/ella/usted form, the c becomes a z to keep the soft s sound before the o. So the form is hizo, not hico.

Subject	Form
yo	hice
tú	hiciste
él / ella / usted	hizo
nosotros	hicimos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	hicieron

Hice la cena para toda la familia.

I made dinner for the whole family.

¿Qué hiciste el fin de semana?

What did you do over the weekend?

💡

The c → z swap in hizo is a spelling rule, not a sound change. Spanish never writes ce or ci with an s-sound using the letter c before the vowels o or a — so hico would be pronounced hiko, which is wrong. The z keeps the soft sound.

Querer (to want)

Subject	Form
yo	quise
tú	quisiste
él / ella / usted	quiso
nosotros	quisimos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	quisieron

Quise llamarte, pero no tenía señal.

I tried to call you, but I had no signal.

Ellos no quisieron venir a la fiesta.

They refused to come to the party.

In the preterite, querer often carries the meaning of tried (affirmative) or refused (negative). See Verbs That Change Meaning in the Preterite for more on this.

Venir (to come)

Subject	Form
yo	vine
tú	viniste
él / ella / usted	vino
nosotros	vinimos
ellos / ellas / ustedes	vinieron

Vinieron a visitarnos el domingo.

They came to visit us on Sunday.

Vine en taxi porque estaba lloviendo.

I came by taxi because it was raining.

💡

Do not confuse vino (he/she came — from venir) with vino (wine). Same spelling, different words. Context always makes it clear.

Quick comparison

Verb	yo	tú	él	nosotros	ellos
hacer	hice	hiciste	hizo	hicimos	hicieron
querer	quise	quisiste	quiso	quisimos	quisieron
venir	vine	viniste	vino	vinimos	vinieron

Common mistakes

❌ Yo hicé la cena anoche.

Wrong: irregular preterites have no accent on the yo form.

✅ Yo hice la cena anoche.

Correct: hice — no accent, stress on the stem.

❌ Él hico la tarea.

Wrong: c before o would produce a hard k sound.

✅ Él hizo la tarea.

Correct: hizo — the z preserves the soft s sound.

❌ Yo querí llamarte ayer.

Wrong: querer has the irregular stem quis-, not quer-.

✅ Yo quise llamarte ayer.

Correct: quise uses the i-stem quis-.

❌ Ellos venieron a la fiesta.

Wrong: the stem is vin-, not ven-.

✅ Ellos vinieron a la fiesta.

Correct: vinieron uses the i-stem vin-.

With the u-stem and i-stem groups memorized, you already control most of the preterite irregulars you will meet in daily conversation. Next up: the j-stem irregulars, which take a slightly different ending in the ellos form.