# 26. Past Tense of “Ser” and “Ir”

- **Time range:** 01:48:08 – 01:54:32  (duration 00:06:24)
- **Source:** [A Complete Guide To Every Fundamental In Spanish (The Conclusion)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=YHDZSHCt1DE&t=6488s)

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**[01:48:08]** the verbs said and E which mean to be and to go and even though these verbs have different definitions the convenient thing about them is that they

> **[on-screen 01:48:15]**
> ser-tobe ir-togo \ Same form in the / past simple tense

**[01:48:15]** both share the same syntax when they're put into past simple or predate tense in Spanish the ver said means to be as in

> **[on-screen 01:48:20]**
> Ser - to be factually

**[01:48:21]** being and having traits about oneself and the synx of this verb in the present

> **[on-screen 01:48:24]**
> Ser - to be factually soy | somos eres sois es son

**[01:48:25]** tense has six different conjugations for the six pronouns the verb ear however means to go and sometimes can be referred to as to go to but its syntax

> **[on-screen 01:48:33]**
> Ir (a) - to go (to) voy (a) | vamos (a) va (a) | van (a)

**[01:48:33]** is completely different in the present tense from the verb set the two verbs in

> **[on-screen 01:48:36]**
> Ser/Ir in the past tense: fui fuimos fuiste | fuisteis fue fueron

**[01:48:37]** the past simple tense share the same syntax which makes Spanish more convenient having an irregular conjugation pattern and so you can only tell the difference between them in context fui can simultaneously mean I went somewhere or to do something or I was as in actions that were completed in the past and I'll get to that in a bit fuiste can mean you went somewhere or to do something and also you were in a position somewhere Fu can mean he or she went and it also has a ubiquitous use of it was in Spanish making it one of the most useful words in the past simple tense fuos means we went or we were Fu means y'all went or y'all were and fuon can mean they went or they were I recommend that you actually focus on all pronouns except votos and AOS because

> **[on-screen 01:49:18]**
> Ser/Ir in the past tense: fui fuimos fuiste is fue eron

**[01:49:19]** all of these conjugations are very useful in Spanish as I said before you can only tell the difference between said and ear in the past simple in context and there's actually an easy way to distinguish their meaning and that is

> **[on-screen 01:49:29]**
> ser-tobe _ ir(a)-to go (to) The preposition "a" / with ir, meaning "to"

**[01:49:29]** through the preposition a which is used as the preposition to in English just

> **[on-screen 01:49:33]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (present)

**[01:49:33]** like when we say actions in the present such as yo ala I go to the store it's

> **[on-screen 01:49:36]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (present) Yo voy ala tienda I go to the store

**[01:49:38]** the same way you would say the phrase in the past y ala I went to the store which

> **[on-screen 01:49:41]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (past) Yo fui alatienda | went to the store

**[01:49:43]** ultimately changes only one word making

> **[on-screen 01:49:44]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (past) Yo fui alatienda | went to the store

**[01:49:45]** the language easier to understand and easier to distinguish from the verb set in this context next we know that the verb is IR because we see the preposition a which is placed only after conjugations of the verb regardless if

> **[on-screen 01:49:56]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) ir (a) - to go (to) (present) (past) Yovoyalatienda Yofuialatienda Igotothestore | went tothe store

**[01:49:56]** it's in the present or past y ala and Y ala mean I go to the store and I went to the store which simply changes only one word noticeably understanding that ear is used because you have the preposition a after the conjugation in both cases however you can sometimes refer to

> **[on-screen 01:50:14]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (present) (past) Tu vas a hacer tu tarea

**[01:50:15]** like you go to do your homework and if

> **[on-screen 01:50:16]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (present) (past) Tu vas a hacer tu tarea You go to do your homework

**[01:50:17]** you want to put the phrase in the past you simply change only one word by

> **[on-screen 01:50:21]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (present) (past) Tu vas ahacertutarea_ Tu fuiste a hacer tu tarea You go to do your homework You went to do your homework

**[01:50:21]** to you went to do your homework and in both cases everything else in the sentence stays the same besides the conjugation of both in English and Spanish and you can make more examples

> **[on-screen 01:50:32]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (past) Ella fue al concerto ayer

**[01:50:32]** like she went to the concert yesterday

> **[on-screen 01:50:34]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (past) Ella fue al concerto ayer She went to the concert yesterday

**[01:50:35]** with a indicating that the action

> **[on-screen 01:50:36]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (past) Ella fue al concerto ayer She went to the concert yesterday

**[01:50:37]** happened in the past and also having Al

> **[on-screen 01:50:39]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (past) Ella fue al concerto ayer She went to the concert yesterday

**[01:50:39]** which means to the again knowing that it's the verb you can also say a sentence like Fiesta we went to see the

> **[on-screen 01:50:43]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (past) Fuimos a ver la fiesta

> **[on-screen 01:50:45]**
> ir (a) - to go (to) (past) Fuimos a ver la fiesta We went to see the party

**[01:50:45]** party and this sentence also has the preposition a inside which refers to an action done in the past once again showing that the sentence contains the verb ear the biggest tip that I can give

> **[on-screen 01:50:54]**
> Ser/Ir in the past tense: fui fuimos fuiste | fuisteis fue fueron

**[01:50:54]** for telling the difference between said and ear in the past simple is that if you see this conjugation and you don't know which one it is try looking for the

> **[on-screen 01:51:00]**
> Ser/Ir (a) in the past tense: fui (a) | fuimos (a) fuiste (a) | fuisteis (a) fue (a) | fueron (a)

**[01:51:01]** preposition ah after the conjugation if there is an ah with or without an infinitive the verb is IR because there

> **[on-screen 01:51:06]**
> Ser/Ir (a) in the past tense: fui (a) | fuimos (a) fuiste (a) | fuisteis (a) fue (a) | fueron (a)

**[01:51:07]** isn't much of a change from its form in the present now understanding how the

> **[on-screen 01:51:09]**
> ser-tobe (past simple)

**[01:51:10]** verb said works in the past simple is actually a bit more difficult to comprehend due to its variations in the past currently we're working in the past simple also known as the predate and as I said in my previous video Spanish has many variations of the past such as the imperfect conditional and so on however what's important with the verb said is

> **[on-screen 01:51:27]**
> ser-tobe (past simple) ser in the past simple tense is strictly used for describing actions that SPECIFICALLY happened in the past

**[01:51:27]** that it's used in the past simple strictly for describing actions that specifically happened in the past and I'm putting a very big emphasis on the word specifically as I don't want to lie to any of you watching this video I myself struggled with the verb said in the past simple but I can describe it in the easiest way possible you might

> **[on-screen 01:51:42]**
> What ser applies to: 1.Name, nationality, birthplace 2.Occupation 3. Physical traits (about oneself) 4. Generalizations 5.When and where are events 6.Time and date

**[01:51:42]** remember me explaining the verb said in one of my previous videos where I described how the verb said works in the present form part of which includes the following applications of said you might be thinking that since these are the uses that are utilized for said in the present form then they all have to be used in the past tense also however since I said that said is used in the past only for situations that were finished specifically and factually this Narrows the field of the verb being used

> **[on-screen 01:52:03]**
> What ser applies to: 1 sonatiterisivtine! Sc 5.When, where, and how events took place GeEioscnancede $s ae

**[01:52:04]** in the past only to when where and how events took place which can also be explained as events that happened or finished in the past suppose we have the

> **[on-screen 01:52:12]**
> ser- tobe (past simple) La pelicula fue aburrida

**[01:52:12]** phrase la pelicula Fu AB meaning the

> **[on-screen 01:52:15]**
> ser - to be (past simple) La pelicula fue aburrida The movie was boring

**[01:52:15]** movie was boring in this case we have the use of Fu which indicates was as in

> **[on-screen 01:52:18]**
> ser - to be (past simple) La pelicula fue aburrida The movie was boring

**[01:52:20]** the movie was boring since a movie is an event that happened in the past and stayed in the past the act of the sentence remains factual because of how was the movie and since there is the word f in the sentence this shows you how fu is used more than the other conjugations of SE however and this is

> **[on-screen 01:52:35]**
> ser - to be The movie was boring

**[01:52:36]** something that I'll show rather than explain if you take this phrase the movie was boring and plug it into a translator it might give a translation that has the word era while the

> **[on-screen 01:52:44]**
> ser - to be La pelicula era aburrida The movie was boring

**[01:52:44]** translation of the sentence doesn't go away the meaning is quite wrong about the phrase because era is the imperfect

> **[on-screen 01:52:49]**
> ser - used to be (past imperfect) La pelicula era aburrida The movie was boring

**[01:52:50]** tense of said of the it pronoun meaning used to be and it's actually a word that's used more often than F but the emphasis of this video is the past simple saying laela ER AB means the

> **[on-screen 01:52:58]**
> ser - used to be (past imperfect) La pelicula era aburrida

> **[on-screen 01:53:00]**
> ser - used to be (past imperfect) La pelicula era aburrida The movie used to be boring

**[01:53:00]** movie used to be boring which logically doesn't make sense which is why F has to

> **[on-screen 01:53:04]**
> ser-tobe (past simple) La pelicula fue aburrida The movie was boring

**[01:53:04]** be used indicating how events took place in the past era is used more when it comes down to describing objects and people but it's a topic for a future video in this video I just wanted to

> **[on-screen 01:53:13]**
> Ser/Ir in the past tense: fui fuimos fuiste | fuisteis fue fueron

**[01:53:13]** mention that so that you don't get confused about how the use said in the past tense fu is by far the most common

> **[on-screen 01:53:18]**
> Ser/Ir in the past tense: fui fuimos fuiste fuisteis fueron

**[01:53:19]** use of used for the construction it was

> **[on-screen 01:53:23]**
> ser-to be (past simple) Fue dificil hacer la prueba

**[01:53:24]** saying it was difficult to study for the

> **[on-screen 01:53:25]**
> ser-tobe (past simple) Fue dificil hacer la prueba It was difficult to do the test

**[01:53:26]** test which can be said the same in the present tense by simply changing one

> **[on-screen 01:53:30]**
> ser-tobe (present) Es dificil hacer la prueba It is difficult to do the test

**[01:53:31]** word it is difficult to do the test and you can also have simpler sentences which are sentences that I recommend using the most

> **[on-screen 01:53:38]**
> ser-tobe (past simple) La fiesta fue en el club

**[01:53:38]** likea meaning the party was in the club

> **[on-screen 01:53:40]**
> ser-tobe (past simple) La fiesta fue en el club The party was in the club

**[01:53:41]** which is the easiest sentence that shows how said is used perfectly and logically in the past by acting as an event that took place in the past and stayed in the past in the video I wanted to show how

> **[on-screen 01:53:50]**
> Ser/Ir (a) in the past tense: fui (a) | fuimos (a) fuiste (a) | fuisteis (a) fue (a) | fueron (a)

**[01:53:51]** the verbs sir and ear work in Spanish by having the same syntax in the past simple tense and also being able to tell the difference between them in context of course you can make any sentence that you want using said and IR but the biggest step that I can give in order to tell the difference between them in context is that the verb IR means to go and if you see the preposition ah with or without an infinitive after it then the verb has to be IR alongside the verb said means to be and if you see a sentence that begins with the construction F meaning it was or a sentence that has f in it with an event that's specifically finished in the past then that verb is the verb said in the past if you want to you can even practice on some of my sentences in the video and put them in English in order to see if you got them right and if you did then you did a good job there are