Oir Past Tense Conjugation: Preterite, Imperfect & Participle

Learn how to adequately use the Spanish verb ‘oir’ (to hear) in this lesson. We will analyze its conjugation in three different past tenses–the preterite, the imperfect and the present perfect–as well as its use in real-life conversations.
Introducing the Verb Oír
What are the most relaxing sounds for you? Have you heard the radio or perhaps the sound of rain outside today? To talk about these topics in Spanish, you need the verb oír (pronounced: oh-EER), which means ‘to hear.’

Translation: To hear
hear
We use oír to talk about the sounds we perceive around us. As opposed to ‘listen’ (escuchar), when we simply hear a sound, we don’t necessarily pay close attention to it. Some of these sounds are more pleasant, like nature sounds or peaceful music, and others are disagreeable, like sirens or vehicles horns. Let’s look at some phrases related to oír:

Nature sounds:
oír el río (to hear the river)
oír el mar (to hear the sea)
oír el canto de los pájaros (to hear the birds singing)
City sounds:
oír las sirenas (to hear the sirens)
oír el tráfico (to hear the traffic)
oír un ruido (to hear a noise)
Music or TV:
oír música (to hear music)
oír la radio (to hear the radio)
oír la televisión (to hear the TV)
Preterite of Oír
We use the preterite to talk about finished actions in the past. So, we use the preterite of oír to say what you or others heard.

Oír follows the general conjugation rule in the preterite–we add the preterite endings to its stem, o-. But there is a change to take into account:

In the third person (both singular and plural), the i changes to y. We do this to avoid having three or more vowels together.
Subject Pronouns Preterite Conjugation Pronunciation Translation
yo oí (oh-EE) I heard
tú oíste (oh-EES-teh) you heard
él/ella
usted
oyó (oh-YOH) he/she
you (formal) heard
nosotros/nosotras oímos (oh-EE-mohs) we heard
vosotros/vosotras oísteis (oh-EES-tays) you all heard
ellos/ellas
ustedes
oyeron (oh-YEH-rohn) they/you all (formal)
heard
Examples in the Preterite
Mario is a heavy sleeper. He normally sleeps through the night. He says:

Anoche mis padres oyeron ruidos en la calle, pero yo estaba tan cansado que me dormí y no oí nada. (Last night my parents heard noises in the street, but I was so tired I fell asleep and I didn’t hear anything.)
His friend Diego, on the contrary, is a light sleeper:

¡Qué suerte! (How lucky!) Yo no podía dormir, así que oí un poco de música. (I couldn’t sleep, so I heard some music.)
Mario is curious:

¿Qué oíste? (What did you hear?)
Diego says he heard some chillout music:

Es un grupo que mi hermano y yo oímos el otro día por primera vez. (It’s a band my brother and I heard the other day for the first time.)
Imperfect of Oír
We use the imperfect to talk about past habits, such as past routines or our childhood. The good news is that oír is regular in this tense. To conjugate it, simply add the endings below to its stem, o-.

Subject Pronouns Imperfect Conjugation Pronunciation Translation
yo oía (oh-EE-ah) I used to hear
tú oías (oh-EE-ahs) you used to hear
él/ella
usted
oía (oh-EE-ah) he/she
you (formal) used to hear
nosotros/nosotras oíamos (oh-EE-ah-mohs) we used to hear
vosotros/vosotras oíais (oh-EE-iys) you all used to hear
ellos/ellas
ustedes
oían (oh-EE-ahn) they/you all (formal)
used to hear
Examples in the Imperfect
Mario and Diego talk about what they and their families used to hear when they were younger.

Mario: Mi madre siempre oía la radio mientras hacía las tareas de la casa. (My mother always used to hear the radio while she did the chores.)

Diego: Mis padres también. (My parents too.) Oían la radio o sus vinilos. (They used to hear the radio or their vinyls.)

Yo oía música mientras dibujaba. (I used to hear music while I drew.)

¿Y tú qué oías? (And what did you use to hear?)

Mario: Mi hermano y yo oíamos música de los grupos de moda del momento. (My brother and I used to hear music from fashionable bands at that moment.)

Diego: ¿Qué grupos oíais? (What bands did you (both) use to hear?)

Mario: Aún tenemos la cinta. (We still have the tape.) Ahora la pongo. (I’ll play it now.)

Translation: My parents used to hear their vinyls.
vinyl
Past Participle of Oír
A past participle is a verbal form that indicates that an action is done or completed. To form past participles in Spanish, just drop the infinitive ending (-AR/-ER/-IR) and add -ado or -ido depending on the verb group (-ado for -AR verbs and -ido for the rest). This means that the participle of oír is oído (heard).

But we do not generally use participles on their own, so let’s see how to use oído in context.

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