oír

Oír — "to hear" — is one of the most morphologically irregular verbs at A1, packing five irregularities into a two-syllable infinitive: the written accent oír itself (never oir); the yo-go form oigo; the i → y shift in the third-person preterite (oyó, oyeron); the same shift in the gerund (oyendo); and obligatory written accents on the participle oído and across the imperfect (oía, oías…).

The good news: oír is so high-frequency that you internalize its forms quickly. Native speakers say oye — the imperative — dozens of times a day to get attention. Te oigo, no se oye nada, ¿oíste? are everyday phrases. The verb is far less daunting in use than on the table.

Non-finite forms

Every form above carries a diacritic decision. The infinitive oír needs the accent on í because o-ír is two syllables in hiatus; the same logic explains oído (o-í-do, three syllables) and the imperfect oía, oías. Without the accent, those spellings would be misread as diphthongs.

The gerund oyendo shows the i → y conversion: the regular -ir gerund would be oiendo, but Spanish does not tolerate an unstressed i between two vowels — it becomes y. Same rule: cayendo (caer), leyendo (leer), huyendo (huir), yendo (ir).

Oído additionally doubles as the noun el oído (the inner ear, the sense of hearing — distinct from la oreja, the outer ear). And de oído is the idiom for "by ear": toca el piano de oído.

Indicative — simple tenses

Presente — oigo, oyes, oye, oímos, oís, oyen

The whole paradigm is irregular. Oigo belongs to the -go class (tengo, vengo, pongo, salgo, digo, hago) — verbs that historically added a velar consonant in the first person. Oyes, oye, oyen show i → y glide insertion that prevents the stem-final i of oi- from being absorbed into the next vowel. Oímos and oís keep the written accent because o-í is a hiatus, two syllables.

Pretérito perfecto simple — y in 3rd persons

Three patterns to track. First, the third-person forms oyó and oyeron show the i → y conversion — the regular endings would give oió, oieron, but an unstressed i between vowels becomes y. Second, the yo form oí carries an obligatory accent on í to mark the hiatus. Third, the rest of the paradigm (oíste, oímos, oísteis) preserves the accent on í for the same reason.

Pretérito imperfecto — accents throughout

The imperfect endings are the regular -er/-ir set — but because the stem is o-, every form carries the o-í hiatus and the obligatory accent. Drop a single accent (oia, oias, oiamos) and the spelling is wrong.

Futuro simple — built on the regular infinitive

The future and conditional are built on the infinitive oír- but drop the accent on í because the stress moves to the ending. Oiré has stress on -é, so oi- becomes a true diphthong (no accent needed). Rule: the accent always tracks the stress.

Condicional

The conditional endings restore the accent on í — because -ría is a true two-syllable hiatus.

Indicative — compound tenses

All compound tenses pair haber with the participle oído — always with the written accent on í.

Pretérito perfecto compuesto

Haber oído hablar de (literally "to have heard speak of") is the standard way to say to have heard of in Spanish — never just haber oído de.

Pretérito pluscuamperfecto

Futuro compuesto

Condicional compuesto

Subjunctive — simple tenses

Presente de subjuntivo — oiga, oigas, oiga, oigamos, oigáis, oigan

Built on the yo form oigo, the present subjunctive carries the -ig- through every person. Oiga is also one of the most useful usted forms in Spain — see the imperative section.

Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)

Built from the 3rd-person plural preterite oyeron — so every form carries the y. Both -ra and -se are interchangeable; -ra dominates in speech.

Subjunctive — compound tenses

Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo

Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo

Imperative — oye and oiga are conversation lifelines

Oye (to tú) and oiga (to usted) function as the standard call-to-attention discourse markers in Spain, equivalent to English hey or listen. They are everywhere: Oye, ¿tienes un momento? (Hey, got a sec?); Oye, una pregunta… (Listen, a question…); ¡Oiga, por favor! (to a waiter or stranger: Excuse me!). These have grammaticalized into pure attention-getters — they no longer literally mean "hear this." The vosotros imperative oíd exists but is rare; for a group, speakers usually switch to oye (even for multiple people) or to escuchad.

Note the accents when clitics attach. Oíd + me = oídme keeps the accent on í because the o-í hiatus is preserved. Oigan + lo = óiganlo takes a fresh accent on ó: the diphthong oi stays intact and the new esdrújula stress is marked on the strong vowel, exactly like dígamelo, cómpramelo.

Oír vs escuchar — hear vs listen

A genuine semantic distinction, though peninsular Spanish has been blurring it. Textbook rule:

• Oír — to hear, passively. The sound reaches you. Oí un ruido en la cocina.
• Escuchar — to listen, actively. You direct your attention. Estoy escuchando un podcast.

In Spain, escuchar has been encroaching on oír's territory: many speakers now say no te escucho where the older norm is no te oigo (bad phone connection). RAE accepts this as a colloquial extension; in formal writing, keep the distinction crisp.

High-frequency idioms and collocations

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Oír carries five irregularities: the written accent in the infinitive (oír), the yo-go form oigo (and the matching subjunctive oiga), the i → y shift in the 3rd-person preterite (oyó, oyeron), the same shift in the gerund (oyendo), and obligatory accents on the participle (oído) and the imperfect (oía, oíamos).
• The accent on í always marks an o-í hiatus — two syllables. The future and conditional drop the accent because the stress moves onto the ending (oiré, oiría).
• Oye (tú) and oiga (usted) are the most common forms in peninsular daily life, used as attention-getters: Oye, una cosa… / ¡Oiga, perdone!
• To say "I've heard of," use oír hablar de, not oír de alone.
• Oír (passive — sound reaches you) vs escuchar (active — you direct your attention) remains a real semantic distinction, even though peninsular Spanish has blurred it in casual speech.