The preterite: dar, poder, venir, poner, querer, decir, traer

Complete your set of irregular preterites. These verbs have special stems and endings with no accents.

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Dar

dar (to give) uses -er / -ir endings without accents: di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron.
Le di un regalo a mi madre. = I gave my mother a present.
Ver works the same way: vi, viste, vio, vimos, visteis, vieron.

Irregular stems

Same endings for all of them: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron, with no accents. Verbs with j in the stem take -eron (dijeron, trajeron).
Verbyoél / ellaellos
poderpudepudopudieron
venirvinevinovinieron
ponerpusepusopusieron
quererquisequisoquisieron
decirdijedijodijeron
traertrajetrajotrajeron
tener (recap)tuvetuvotuvieron
hacer (recap)hicehizohicieron

Spelling changes in the yo form

To keep the sound, the yo form changes spelling:
-car: -qué (sacar: saqué, tocar: toqué, buscar: busqué)
-gar: -gué (llegar: llegué, jugar: jugué, pagar: pagué)
-zar: -cé (empezar: empecé, cruzar: crucé)
Leer and oír use y in the third person: leyó, leyeron, oyó.
Some -ir verbs change the stem in the third person: durmió, pidió (recognise them).
Worked example

Translate: Yesterday my friends came to my house and brought a cake.

  1. came = vinieron (venir: vin-)
  2. brought = trajeron (traer: traj-, -eron)
  3. to my house = a mi casa

Answer: Ayer mis amigos vinieron a mi casa y trajeron un pastel.

Key idea

Dar / ver: di, dio, dieron; vi, vio, vieron. Stems pud-, vin-, pus-, quis-, dij-, traj-, tuv-, hic- (hizo) + -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron (-eron after j). Yo: saqué, llegué, jugué, empecé.

Key words
tocar
to play (an instrument): toco la guitarra
llegar
to arrive

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  1. Ayer le ___ un regalo a mi madre. (dar, yo)

    1. dí
    2. dé
    3. doy
    4. di
    Show the answer

    Answer: di

    Dar: yo di.

  2. Ayer mi hermano no ___ hacer los deberes. (poder)

    1. podió
    2. pudó
    3. puede
    4. pudo
    Show the answer

    Answer: pudo

    Poder: él pudo.

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Last updated 2 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.

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