Some of the most common verbs in Spanish have irregular stems in the preterite tense. They also use a special set of endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, and -ieron. Unlike regular past tense verbs, these irregular forms never use accent marks.
Here is how to conjugate tener (to have), estar (to be), and hacer (to do / to make) in the preterite:
| Pronoun | tener | estar | hacer |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | tuve | estuve | hice |
| tú | tuviste | estuviste | hiciste |
| él / ella / usted | tuvo | estuvo | hizo |
| nosotros / nosotras | tuvimos | estuvimos | hicimos |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | tuvieron | estuvieron | hicieron |
The "u" stems: tener and estar
The verbs tener and estar both change their vowels to u, using the stems tuv- and estuv-.
| I was at the counter. | Estuve en el mostrador. |
| Did you have problems with your airline? | ¿Tuviste problemas con tu aerolínea? |
| The furious passenger had a problem with his reservation. | El pasajero furioso tuvo un problema con su reserva. |
| How horrible! We were in the airport all day. | ¡Qué horrible! Estuvimos en el aeropuerto todo el día. |
The "i" stem: hacer
The verb hacer changes its stem to hic-.
Notice that in the él / ella / usted form, the c changes to a z (hizo). This spelling change happens so that the word keeps its soft "s" sound, rather than sounding like "hico".
| The passenger asked a question at the counter. | El pasajero hizo una pregunta en el mostrador. |
| We packed the suitcase fast, but missed the airplane. | Hicimos la maleta rápido, pero perdimos el avión. |
| What did you all do at the destination? | ¿Qué hicieron ustedes en el destino? |
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