If you've been studying Spanish for a while, you've probably already tackled the preterite tense and discovered that irregular verbs can feel like a real headache. The truth is, though, that once you know a few smart strategies, the whole system starts to make a lot of sense. In this lesson, we'll share 7 tricks to help you master the preterite conjugations of the most common irregular Spanish verbs — and make them stick for good.
Before we dive into the tricks, let's quickly clarify two terms we'll use throughout this lesson: stem and ending.
Take the verb hacer (to do/make). In the preterite, the yo form is yo hice (I did/made). Now, if you remove the -e at the end, what's left — hic- — is the stem. Simply put, the stem is the core part of the conjugated verb, and the ending is what you attach to it to indicate who is doing the action:
📌 hacer → yo hice (I did/made) → stem: hic- + ending: -e
Una de las primeras cosas que yo hice en el circo es el arte de payaso.
One of the first things that I did in the circus is the art of clowning.
Caption 24, Circo Berlín Lucas - Part 2
Play Caption
Keep this in mind — it's the foundation of everything that follows!
This is the most important trick in the whole lesson — and the name tells you exactly what to do. The YES trick stands for Yo (I in English), Endings, and Stem, and it gives you a simple three-step method for cracking any irregular preterite conjugation in Spanish.
In irregular preterites, the yo form always ends in an unstressed -e — no exceptions and no accent mark. This is your starting point every single time.
Here's something that will save you a lot of time: most irregular preterite verbs share the same set of endings, regardless of whether they end in -ar, -er, or -ir in the infinitive:
• Yo (I): -e
• Tú (you): -iste
• Él/Ella/Usted (he/she/you formal): -o
• Nosotros (we): -imos
• Vosotros (you all — used in Spain): -isteis
• Ellos/Ustedes (they/you all): -ieron
Memorize these once and you can apply them to all irregular preterites. That's a big return on a small investment!
Once you know the yo form, you automatically know the stem you'll use for the entire conjugation. Just remove the -e ending and what's left is your stem. Now watch how it all comes together with the verb hacer (to do/make):
• Yo hice (I did/made) → stem: hic- + e
• Tú (you): -iste hic + iste = tú hiciste (you did/made)
• Él/Ella/Usted (he/she/you formal): -o hiz + o = hizo (he/she did/made)*
*You may have noticed that the stem changes from hic- to hiz- here. This is a spelling adjustment to preserve pronunciation. Think of the word tráfico (traffic) — notice how the c before o makes a hard k sound. If we wrote hico, the same thing would happen and the soft sound of hice would be completely lost. By changing c to z before the -o ending, we keep the pronunciation consistent.
Listen to the following clips — first a word ending in -co, then hizo — and notice how the z in hizo preserves that softer sound:
hay mucho tráfico.
there's a lot of traffic.
Caption 19, Ariana España
Play Caption
pero lo que él hizo es grave.
but what he did is serious.
Caption 12, Confidencial: Asesino al Volante Capítulo 3 - Part 13
Play Caption
• Nosotros (we): -imos hic + imos = hicimos (we did/made)
• Vosotros (you all — used in Spain): -isteis hic + isteis = hicisteis (you all did/made)
• Ellos/Ustedes (they/you all): -ieron hic + ieron = hicieron (they did/made)
See how it all comes together? That's the YES trick in action!
This is a small but very important detail that trips up a lot of learners. Regular preterites carry accent marks on the yo and él/ella/usted forms — think hablé (I spoke) and habló (he/she spoke). Irregular preterites, however, are written without any accent marks at all. So hice (I did), vine (I came), puse (I put), tuve (I had) — all without tildes. Keep this in mind and you'll avoid one of the most common written mistakes in Spanish
yo vine aquí a España hace veintitrés años. Mm...
I came here to Spain twenty-three years ago. Mmm...
Caption 13, Adriana y Laura Mijas
Play Caption
The tú ending (-iste) and the vosotros ending (-isteis) are practically the same — you just add is at the end: -iste → -isteis. Once you know hiciste (you did/made), you practically already know hicisteis (you all did/made)! And this works for every single irregular preterite — no exceptions!
René, no sabes cuánto te agradezco lo que hiciste por nosotros.
René, you have no idea how much I appreciate what you did for us.
Caption 64, Confidencial: Asesino al Volante Capítulo 4 - Part 2
Play Caption
¿Hicisteis vuestros deberes?
Did you guys do your homework?
Caption 56, Carlos explica Tuteo, ustedeo y voseo: Ustedes y vosotros
Play Caption
One of the most effective strategies for learning irregular preterite stems is to group verbs into families based on their vowel. Most irregular preterite stems fall into one of two groups — the U verbs and the I verbs:
• tener (to have) → tuve (I had)
• estar (to be) → estuve (I was)
• andar (to walk) → anduve (I walked)
• poner (to put) → puse (I put)
• poder (to be able to) → pude (I could)
• saber (to know) → supe (I knew)
Pues, me cogí la furgoneta y estuve aquí unas semanas
Well, I took the van, and I was here for a few weeks,
Caption 42, Amaya Recordando - Part 3
Play Caption
• hacer (to do/make) → hice (I did/made)
• venir (to come) → vine (I came)
• querer (to want) → quise (I wanted)
Yo quise mostrar las dos caras de la moneda,
I wanted to show both sides of the coin,
Caption 63, Confidencial: Asesino al Volante Capítulo 4 - Part 1
Play Caption
⚠️ Watch out! There's a small third group worth knowing — verbs like decir (to say/to tell) → dije (I said) and traer (to bring) → traje (I brought) — whose stems end in -j. These verbs drop the i in the ellos/ustedes form and use -eron instead of -ieron: dijeron (they said) and trajeron (they brought) — not dijieron or trajieron. It's a small detail but one that's very easy to get wrong, so keep an eye on it!
Oiga, ¿y usted cómo supo mi nombre? Me lo dijeron los policías.
Hey, and how did you find out my name? The police officers told me.
Captions 25-26, Confidencial: Broma pesada Capítulo 3 - Part 13
Play Caption
This one always surprises learners! The verbs ser (to be) and ir (to go) — two completely different verbs — are absolutely identical in the preterite: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. The only thing that tells them apart is context. The upside? You only need to memorize one set of forms for two of the most common verbs in Spanish!
y allí es donde fui a estudiar... un año, interna, mm... educación física.
and that's where I went to study... for a year, boarding, mm... physical education.
Caption 6, Mari Carmen Polanco
Play Caption
sí fui muy honesto con todo el mundo,
I was indeed very honest with everyone,
Caption 14, Confidencial: Broma pesada Capítulo 5 - Part 3
Play Caption
In Spanish, many verbs are built by adding a prefix to an existing verb — and they always follow the exact same preterite pattern as their root verb. For example, once you know poner (to put) → puse (I put), you automatically know:
• suponer (to suppose) → supuse (I supposed)
• proponer (to propose) → propuse (I proposed)
• componer (to compose) → compuse (I composed)
The same applies to tener (mantener, obtener, contener...) and venir (convenir, intervenir...). Learn the parent verb and the whole family comes for free!
y le propuse ir a tomar algo
and I suggested to her to go have a drink
Caption 46, Aprendiendo con Silvia Frases hechas - Part 2
Play Caption
Mamá Bucha mantuvo el acontecimiento en secreto.
Mama Bucha kept the event secret.
Caption 34, Leyendas urbanas Chico Largo
Play Caption
You don't need to learn every irregular preterite at once. Focus on the most common ones first — the verbs you'll actually use in real conversations every single day — and build from there:
• ser (to be) / ir (to go) → fui (I was / I went)
• hacer (to do/make) → hice (I did/made)
• tener (to have) → tuve (I had)
• estar (to be) → estuve (I was)
• poder (to be able to) → pude (I could)
• poner (to put) → puse (I put)
• venir (to come) → vine (I came)
• decir (to say) → dije (I said)
• saber (to know) → supe (I knew)
• querer (to want) → quise (I wanted)
y no tuve tiempo de ponerme en contacto con vosotros.
and I didn't have time to get in touch with you guys.
Caption 28, Negocios Problemas laborales - Part 2
Play Caption
así que solo pudimos dar una pequeña vuelta por los alrededores
so we could only take a short stroll around the surrounding area
Caption 50, Viajando con Fermín Caravaning - Part 1
Play Caption
Master these and you'll be able to communicate in the past tense with confidence in the vast majority of everyday situations. Here's a visual summary of everything we've covered today — save it and keep it handy!
You can also download this cheat sheet as a PDF — perfect for printing or keeping on your phone for quick reference!
Learning the preterite of irregular Spanish verbs doesn't have to feel overwhelming. Start with the YES trick, group your verbs into families, watch out for the small exceptions, and always prioritize the most common verbs first. But remember — the real trick is practice! Try building simple sentences you can actually remember: ayer fui al cine (yesterday I went to the movies), ella no pudo dormir (she couldn't sleep), ¿qué hiciste el fin de semana? (what did you do over the weekend?). The more you use these forms in real sentences, the faster they'll stick.
Do you have questions about any of the tricks we covered today, or would you like to share what works best for you? We'd love to hear from you — send us your comments and questions! ¡Hasta la próxima!
Are you familiar with the Spanish preposition hacia? While its most common translation is "toward(s)," whether referring to direction or one's attitude, it can mean different things in different contexts, such as "approximately" or "about" when referring to time. Let's explore these meanings further with a multitude of examples from Yabla's Spanish video library.
When referring to movement with a particular direction or destination, the Spanish preposition hacia can function as the equivalent of not only the English "toward(s)" but also additional prepositions like "for" or "to." Let's take a look at several examples.
Fue una mañana que yo iba caminando hacia la facultad
It was one morning when I was walking toward my college department [building],
Caption 5, Soledad Raspi
Play Caption
para animarles y desearles suerte antes de su salida hacia el campo.
to encourage them and wish them luck before their departure for the field.
Caption 82, Viajando con Fermín Final Copa del Rey
Play Caption
Hoy fue extraditado hacia los Estados Unidos, otro miembro del cartel de Medellín,
Today, another member of the Medellin cartel was extradited to the United States,
Caption 6, Los Tiempos de Pablo Escobar Capítulo 1 - Part 13
Play Caption
When used with direction words like abajo (down), adelante, (forward), arriba (up) or atrás (back), or directions like norte (north), sur (south), etc., hacia can be thought of like the English suffix "ward(s)." Let's take a look:
siempre tiene que ir hacia arriba, y cuando haces un trazo grueso, siempre tiene que ir hacia abajo.
it always has to go upward, and when you do a thick stroke, it always has to go downward.
Captions 34-36, Adriana Lettering - Part 2
Play Caption
Y vamos a fondear toda la isla por la costa... yendo hacia el norte.
And we're going to drop anchor all around the island along the coast... going northwards.
Caption 11, El Trip Ibiza
Play Caption
It should be noted that the translations for Spanish sentences like these could also be expressed in English without "ward(s)," for example, one could simply say "it has to go up" or "down" or "going north."
In the absence of movement, the Spanish preposition hacia is frequently used to mean "in the direction of" when indicating orientation or location. Let's take a look:
de manera que hacia la cama también tenemos otra puerta corredera,
so that towards the bed, we also have another sliding door,
Caption 51, Viajando con Fermín Caravaning - Part 3
Play Caption
Un momento después, Pigueldito miró hacia el cielo.
A moment later, Piggeldy looked toward the sky.
Caption 14, Pigueldito y Federico Refranes
Play Caption
Mirar hacia el futuro sin dar la espalda al medio ambiente:
Looking toward the future without turning one's back to the environment:
Caption 91, Tecnópolis El Coronil
Play Caption
With varying translations like "toward(s)" "to," "for" and more, the Spanish preposition hacia can additionally express one's point of view with regards to someone or something.
y sobre todo mucha gratitud hacia todos los que elegimos visitar este hermoso rincón de Andalucía.
and, above all, a lot of gratitude for all of us who choose to visit this beautiful corner of Andalusia.
Captions 47-48, Viajando con Fermín El Día del Turista de Mijas
Play Caption
que encuentras un público muy abierto hacia ti,
when you encounter an audience that's very open to you,
Caption 37, Circo Berlín Lucas - Part 2
Play Caption
yo sentí cierto rechazo hacia ella,
I felt a kind of rejection towards her
Caption 33, Soledad Los prejuicios
Play Caption
When used to talk about time, the Spanish preposition hacia means "around," "approximately" or "about."
Iré hacia las cinco.
I'll go around five.
Actualmente se celebran manifestaciones del orgullo anualmente por todo el mundo, hacia finales de junio,
Currently, pride demonstrations take place annually throughout the world, towards the end of June,
Captions 55-56, Maoli La revuelta de Stonewall
Play Caption
To conclude today's lesson, we'll mention that you shouldn't confuse the Spanish preposition hacia with hacía (with an accent), the extremely frequently-employed imperfect tense of the verb hacer, which means "to make" or "do." Let's see it in a couple of captions:
¿Usted qué hacía en el salón de ese profesor? ¿Ah?
What were you doing in that teacher's classroom? Huh?
Caption 19, Pablo Escobar, el patrón del mal Capítulo 1 - Part 6
Play Caption
porque mi abuela hacía muchas croquetas.
because my grandma used to make a lot of croquettes.
Caption 37, Con Marta por Madrid El tapeo - Part 1
Play Caption
We hope that this lesson has shed some light on several of the many contexts in which the Spanish preposition hacia can be used as well as many of its translations. Don't forget to write us with your questions and suggestions.
French
German
Italian
Chinese
English
English 
Français
Deutsch
Español
Italiano
Português
