If you’ve looked at my Introduction to the Preterite Tense with Irregular verbs, you’ll be well aware that there are many irregulars and that it’s best to look at them in groups.
Here we will look at the verbs IR and SER, because these are verbs that you will use all the time to talk about the past tense.
The 2 main players: SER (To be) and IR (To go):
The first set of irregular conjugations to learn is a law unto itself but you do get a 2-for-1 because…
…IR and SER have the same conjugations… BONUS!
| Ir (To go) | Ser (To be) |
|---|---|
| fui (I went) | fui (I was) |
| fuiste (you went) | fuiste (you were) |
| fue (he/she/it went) & you (polite) went | fue (he/she/it was) & you (polite) were |
| fuimos (we went) | fuimos (we were) |
| fuisteis (you all went) | fuisteis (you all were) |
| fueron (they went) & you all (polite) went | fueron (they were) & you all (polite) were |
Here are a few example sentences:
- Ayer, fui al mercado. (Yesterday, I went to the market.)
- El año pasado, fuimos a Mallorca. (Last year, we went to Mallorca.)
- La organización del evento fue muy bueno. (The organization of the eveny was very good.)
- Los resultados fueron malos. (The results were bad.)
Have a go at some interactive practice with these verbs:
Once you are feeling confident using SER and IR in the Preterite Tense, why not take a look back at my Introduction to the Preterite Tense with Irregular verbs? You’ll find links to the other groups of Irregular verbs in the Preterite Tense and more practice.
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