Irregular Spanish Verbs

The Spanish verb Oír, which means ‘to hear’, is an irregular Spanish verb. Although not one of the most difficult of irregular verbs to master it is highly irregular in the much used present tense and also in the subjunctive (often used in Spanish!) as well as having third person irregularities in the preterite and an irregular past participle and present participle or ‘Gerund‘. (Did I forget to mention the imperative too!).

Oír is one of four verbs that follow this distinctive pattern of irregularity and all of them relate to ‘hearing‘:

• Oír - to hear
• Entreoír - to half hear
• Trasoír - to mishear
• Desoír - to ignore or, as I like to translate it as, – to choose not to hear!

Oír and Desoír are the verbs that are more commonly used of the four, but once you have mastered the following patterns of conjugations you will be able to apply it to all four.

Past Participle: oído
Present Participle: oyendo

Present Tense Conjugation:

• yo oigo – I hear
• tú oyes – you hear
• él/ella oye – he/she hears
• nosotros/as oímos – we hear
• vosotros/as oís – you hear (plural)
• ellos/ellas oyen – they hear

Please note that the vosotros form of the present tense is not irregular.

Preterite Tense Conjugation

• yo oí – I heard
• tú oíste – you heard
• él/ella oyó – he/she heard
• nosotros/as oímos – we heard
• vosotros/as oísteis – you heard (plural)
• ellos/ellas oyeron – they heard

Only the él/ella and ellos/ellas third person conjugations are irregular in the preterite.

The Subjunctive Mood

• Present Tense

• yo oiga – I hear
• tú oigas – you hear
• él/ella oiga – he/she hears
• nosotros/as oigamos – we hear
• vosotros/as oigáis – you hear (plural)
• ellos/ellas oigan – they hear

• Imperfect Tense

• yo oyera or oyese – I heard
• tú oyeras or oyeses – you heard
• él/ella oyera or oyese – he/she heard
• nosotros/as oyéramos or oyésemos – we heard
• vosotros/as oyerais or oyeseis – you heard (plural)
• ellos/ellas oyeran or oyesen - they heard

• Future Tense

• yo oyere – I will hear
• tú oyeres – you will hear
• él/ella oyere – he/she will hear
• nosotros/as oyéremos – we will hear
• vosotros/as oyereis – you will hear (plural)
• ellos/ellas oyeren – they will hear

The Imperative Mood

The imperative is slightly strange as it is literally translated as ‘Hey!’ rather than ‘Hear!’ or ‘Listen!’

For example:
When someone shouts at you,
¡Oye, ven aqui! – Hey you, come here!

The imperative is often used in places such as restaurants to get the attention of the waiter or waitress:
Oiga señor – ¿nos puede traer el menú? – Hey Sir – can you bring us a menu?

• tú oye – Hey! (you)
• él/ella oiga – Hey!
• nosotros/as oigamos – Hey!
• vosotros/as oíd – Hey! (you plural)
• ellos/ellas oigan – Hey!

That concludes this post on the Spanish verb Oír but if learning verb conjugation is proving difficult for you why not check out my review of the Verbarrator verb training program, it has helped me immensely and is by far the best training tool I’ve ever used.

Or why not check out my previous post which covers the Best Learning Spanish Software currently available.