Grammar - Conjugating IR Verbs in the Past Tense

If you have not already taken the previous quizzes, please check them out now. Those quizzes are the Spanish Medium Review quizzes titled Grammar: Conjugating AR Verbs in the Past Tense! and Grammar: Conjugating ER Verbs in the Past Tense! To review even further, check out the Spanish Medium Review quiz titled Grammar: Learning to Conjugate in the Past Tense. Each one of those quizzes, and their introductions, will assist you in understanding how to take this quiz. In this quiz you will be focusing only on IR verbs. Those verbs are as follows.

ABRIR (to open) (regular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) abro; (tú) abres; (él/ella/usted/lo) abre; (nosotros/as) abrimos; (vosotros/as) abrís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) abren
• Past Tense: (yo) abrí; (tú) abriste; (él/ella/usted/lo) abrió; (nosotros/as) abrimos; (vosotros/as) abristeis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) abrieron

DECIR (to tell) (irregular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) digo; (tú) dices; (él/ella/usted/lo) dice; (nosotros/as) decimos; (vosotros/as) decís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) dicen
• Past Tense: (yo) dije; (tú) dijiste; (él/ella/usted/lo) dijo; (nosotros/as) dijimos; (vosotros/as) dijisteis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) dijeron (Notice that the J has an H sound. It is also important to note that in some countries decir (phonetically pronounced as day-seer) is pronounced as day-theer as the 'c' has a 'th' sound.)

DORMIR (to sleep) (irregular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) duermo; (tú) duermes; (él/ella/usted/lo) duerme; (nosotros/as) dormimos; (vosotros/as) dormís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) duermen
• Past Tense: (yo) dormí; (tú) dormiste; (él/ella/usted/lo) durmió; (nosotros/as) dormimos; (vosotros/as) dormisteis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) durmieron

IR (to go) (irregular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) voy; (tú) vas; (él/ella/usted/lo) va; (nosotros/as) vamos; (vosotros/as) vais; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) van
• Past Tense: (yo) fui; (tú) fuiste; (él/ella/usted/lo) fue; (nosotros/as) fuimos; (vosotros/as) fuisteis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) fueron

MORIR (to die) (irregular in present / regular in past)

• Present Tense: (yo) muero; (tú) mueres; (él/ella/usted/lo) muere; (nosotros/as) morimos; (vosotros/as) morís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) mueren
• Past Tense: (yo) morí; (tú) moriste; (él/ella/usted/lo) murió; (nosotros/as) morimos; (vosotros/as) moristeis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) murieron

VESTIR (to dress) (irregular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) visto; (tú) vistes; (él/ella/usted/lo) viste; (nosotros/as) vestimos; (vosotros/as) vestís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) visten
• Past Tense: (yo) vestí; (tú) vestiste; (él/ella/usted/lo) vistió; (nosotros/as) vestimos; (vosotros/as) vestisteis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) vistieron

VIVIR (to live) (regular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) vivo; (tú) vives; (él/ella/usted/lo) vive; (nosotros/as) vivimos; (vosotros/as) vivís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) viven
• Past Tense: (yo) viví; (tú) viviste; (él/ella/usted/lo) vivió; (nosotros/as) vivimos; (vosotros/as) vivisteis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) vivieron

PEDIR (to ask) (irregular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) pido; (tú) pides; (él/ella/usted/lo) pide; (nosotros/as) pedimos; (vosotros/as) pedís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) piden
• Past Tense: (yo) pedí; (tú) pediste; (él/ella/usted/lo) pidió; (nosotros/as) pedimos; (vosotros/as) pedisteis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) pidieron

DESCRIBIR (to describe) (regular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) describo; (tú) describes; (él/ella/usted/lo) describe; (nosotros/as) describimos; (vosotros/as) describís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) describen
• Past Tense: (yo) describí; (tú) describiste; (él/ella/usted/lo) describió; (nosotros/as) describimos; (vosotros/as) describisteis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) describieron

ENCUBRIR (to hide) (regular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) encubro; (tú) encubres; (él/ella/usted/lo) encubre; (nosotros/as) encubrimos; (vosotros/as) encubrís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) encubren
• Past Tense: (yo) encubrí; (tú) encubriste; (él/ella/usted/lo) encubrió; (nosotros/as) encubrimos; (vosotros/as) encubristeis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) encubrieron

MENTIR (to lie) (irregular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) miento; (tú) mientes; (él/ella/usted/lo) miente; (nosotros/as) mentimos; (vosotros/as) mentís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) mienten
• Past Tense: (yo) mentí; (tú) mentiste; (él/ella/usted/lo) mintió; (nosotros/as) mentimos; (vosotros/as) mentisteis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) mintieron

VENIR (to come) (irregular in both present and past)

• Present Tense: (yo) vengo; (tú) vienes; (él/ella/usted/lo) viene; (nosotros/as) venimos; (vosotros/as) venís; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) vienen
• Past Tense: (yo) vine; (tú) viniste; (él/ella/usted/lo) vino; (nosotros/as) vinimos; (vosotros/as) vinisteis; (ellos/ellas/ustedes/los) vinieron

Did you notice how different it is to conjugate 'ir' (to go)? Remember that when you conjugate you drop the verb’s ending. When you drop IR you have nothing left. This leaves conjugating this verb wide open so it is one of the verbs that needs to be memorized in each tense. In fact, several of these verbs have quite a different spelling when conjugated in the past tense.

As was stated earlier, take as much time as you need to really get to know these verbs in both their present tense and past tense forms. You do not need to rush through them. Move at the pace that is most comfortable to you. There is no punching a time clock here! When you believe have a good grasp of how verbs are conjugated in both present and past tenses, then move forward and take this quiz. Read each question carefully and then locate the correct answer to that question.