the Preterit Indicative of irregular verbs

Preterit Indicative of irregular verbs

When I last posted about the Preterit Indicative, it was all about regular verbs. Now let's look at the most common IRREGULARs in this tense. ➜ *regular verbs are here.

The "simple past tense" (the Preterit Indicative) is used to talk about action that's over and done - in the frame of your story:
I walked the dog at 3 pm.
Yes, she went to the party.
We liked the show.

Wikipedia Definition.

the Preterit Indicative: 7 irregulars

ser

to be (more about SER)

Preterit Indicative
ser
to be
eufui
você, ele, elafoi
nósfomos
vocês, eles, elasforam

I was a very wild kid. ➜ Eu fui uma criança muito rebelde.

It was a great show. ➜ O show foi ótimo.

ir

to go (*note that the conjugation of SER and IR in this tense are identical!)

Preterit Indicative
ir
to go
eufui
você, ele, elafoi
nósfomos
vocês, eles, elasforam

We went to the beach yesterday. ➜ Nós fomos à praia ontem.

It went very well. ➜ Foi muito bem.

estar

to be (more about ESTAR)

Preterit Indicative
estar
to be
euestive
você, ele, elaesteve
nósestivemos
vocês, eles, elasestiveram

I've been in London before. ➜ Já estive em londres.

Have you been to that island? ➜ Você esteve naquela ilha?

ter

to have

Preterit Indicative
ter
to have
eutive
você, ele, elateve
nóstivemos
vocês, eles, elastiveram

She had a headache. ➜ Ela teve uma dor de cabeça.

I had an idea. ➜ Eu tive uma ideia.

dizer

to say

Preterit Indicative
dizer
to say, tell
eudisse
você, ele, eladissemos
nós
vocês, eles, elasdisseram

She told me she’s going. ➜ Ela me disse que vai.

I told him to buy the tickets. ➜ Eu disse a ele para comprar os ingressos.

fazer

to do

Preterit Indicative
fazer
to do, make
eufiz
você, ele, elafez
nósfizemos
vocês, eles, elasfizeram

I did it yesterday. ➜ Eu fiz ontem.

We already did it. ➜ Já fizemos.

querer

to want

Preterit Indicative
querer
to want
euquis
você, ele, elaquis
nósquisemos
vocês, eles, elasquiseram

I wanted to go. ➜ Eu quis ir.

They wanted to talk ➜ Eles quiseram conversar.

the Preterit Indicative: Examples in-context