Leer, creer and proveer are irregular in El Pretérito Indefinido, but follow the same pattern: the ending of the third person singular and plural (ella/ él/ usted and ellas/ ellos/ ustedes) replaces the -i- with a -y. The other endings are the same as regular -er verbs: -i, -iste, -imos, -isteis, but these verbs take an accent on the -i.
| yo | -í |
| tú | -íste |
| él / ella / Ud. | -yó |
| nosotros / nosotras | -ímos |
| vosotros / vosotras | -ísteis |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | -yeron |
Look at and listen to these examples:
Creí que llegarías más pronto.
I thought you'd get there sooner.
¿Leíste el informe que te di?
Did you read the report I gave you?
El creyó a Cristina.
He believed Cristina.
Usted leyó un poema de Neruda muy bonito.
You read a very beautiful Neruda poem.
Nosotros leímos esa novela en clase de literatura.
We read that novel in literature class.
Vosotros creísteis que nunca lo conseguiríais.
You thought you would never make it.
Ellos proveyeron de alimentos a los damnificados.
They provided food to the victims.
Verbs that follow this pattern are:
- leer (to read)
- creer (believe/think)
- proveer (provide)
For regular -er verbs in El Pretérito Indefinido see:
Conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in El Pretérito Indefinido (simple past)
Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics
Examples and resources
Vosotros leísteis la carta.
You read the letter.
No leyeron el artículo del domingo pasado.
They did not read the article from last Sunday.
El juez leyó la sentencia.
The judge read the sentence.
Nosotros leímos esa novela en clase de literatura.
We read that novel in literature class.
Miguel leyó el libro en dos días.
Miguel read the book within two days.
Usted leyó un poema de Neruda muy bonito.
You read a very beautiful Neruda poem.
¿Leíste el informe que te di?
Did you read the report I gave you?
Ellas leyeron en alto.
They read aloud.
Vosotros creísteis que nunca lo conseguiríais.
You thought you would never make it.
Yo leí el periódico ayer.
I read the newspaper yesterday.
Ellos proveyeron de alimentos a los damnificados.
They provided food to the victims.
Creí que llegarías más pronto.
I thought you'd get there sooner.
¿Leíste la redacción de Laura?
Did you read Laura's essay?
El creyó a Cristina.
He believed Cristina.
Q&A
Inma
Kwiziq language super star
20/02/19
Hola John
You are right. It was a typo. It's been corrected. Endings for regular -er verbs in El Indefinido do not take the accent. Thanks for spotting that and letting us know.
Un saludo
Inma
Inma
Kwiziq language super star
7/02/19
Hola John
Yes, you need here to conjugate proveer in the "vosotros" form as the subject of the sentence is "Juan y tú", i.e you plural, two people. "Juan y tú proveísteis" -> "Vosotros proveísteis".
Saludos
Inma
Inma
Kwiziq language super star
11/10/18
Hola Ricky
Verb to provide, in Spanish sometimes admits preposition "de" as in "proveer de algo". It would also be correct if you omit the preposition though.
It is like saying in English "He provided the poor with food" where you also use a preposition "with", although a different one, or "He provided food to the poor", with no preposition.
Saludos
Inma
Brett
Kwiziq community member
20/11/18
Hi Inma, the presence and abscence of "de" (and function thereof) is also confusing for me. Also, are "de" and "por" sometimes interchangable. eg. "Él estaba rodeado de tiborones" and Él estaba rodeado por tiborones" Are these both correct? If so/not why?
Thanks, Brett
Amy
Kwiziq community member
24/11/18
I was also surprised by the 'de' after proveer but now, it makes sense. It's like the provider of (something).
Maybe this will help the other students too :)
Silvia
Kwiziq language super star
19/10/18
¡Hola Ricky! Could you please make your question clearer in order to help you?
Gracias.
Silvia.
Ruthann
Kwiziq community member
31 March 2019
3 replies
I hear you saying I HAVE TO use the vosotros form for Juan y tú. In my part of the world that would be the ustedes form.
I'm finding myself very confused because you are assuming something that I haven't been taught to assume. (I've been taught to assume something else.) I don't want to reprogram my brain! I'm content with *recognizing* (in a passive way) when the vosotros form is being used. But I'd like to continue to use ustedes when it is appropriate in the form of Spanish I've been learning and using. I don't want to learn (in an active way) the vosotros form.
Inma
Kwiziq language super star
1 April 2019
1/04/19
Hola Ruthann
Kwiziq content is based on Spanish from Spain, although we are planning to add lessons to follow Spanish spoken and learnt in Latin America. We explain this in our FAQs session.
What kind of Spanish will I learn
Saludos cordiales,
Inma
Ruthann
Kwiziq community member
1 April 2019
1/04/19
I did read that in the FAQs back when I signed up. What it did NOT say (and, thus, what I didn't know) was that you would be marking the Latin American "ustedes" form INCORRECT...even though it's not wrong. You should accept BOTH correct answers, not just one of them.
I'm finding this deeply disturbing. In order to pass your tests I have to call "wrong" what I know is right...how I actually do speak and will be speaking. That really messes up the learning process.
I'm 71 years old and have taken a lot of classes in my lifetime. But in none of the others have I had face a situation like this.
I can think of only one way to deal with this, assuming you can't adjust your acceptable answers: every time you ask me for a "vosotros" form I will stop and look it up so I can answer the way you insist that I answer. At the same time I will answer the Latin American way...just to keep my sanity.
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
2 April 2019
2/04/19
Hi Ruthann - I'm sorry this is frustrating for you and completely understand why that would be the case. We're very aware of the issue that Latin American Spanish has different rules, and we are working towards solving the problem of supporting students who don't want to study peninsular Spanish.
This isn't going to be a quick fix for us, unfortunately, but we hope in the future we'll be able to let you set your account preferences and adjust the content that you see and the questions and correct responses accordingly.
For now though, we only offer European Spanish and so the questions are marked according to how Spanish is spoken here in Europe.
Best wishes.