competir Preterite Conjugation
competir — to compete
Competir has a third-person stem change (e > i) in the preterite: compitió and compitieron.
competir Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use this tense to talk about a specific tournament or race that started and finished in the past. It describes the act of competing as a completed event.
Notes on competir in the Preterite
This is a 'slipper verb.' While most forms are regular, the third-person singular (él/ella/usted) and plural (ellos/ellas/ustedes) change the 'e' to 'i'.
Example Sentences
Ella compitió en los Juegos Olímpicos el año pasado.
She competed in the Olympic Games last year.
él/ella/usted
Competimos contra el mejor equipo de la liga.
We competed against the best team in the league.
nosotros
Los atletas compitieron bajo la lluvia.
The athletes competed in the rain.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: competió
Correct: compitió
Why: In the preterite, -ir verbs with an 'e' in the stem change to 'i' in the third-person forms.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: compito
Competir is an e > i stem-changer in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Imperfect
yo: competía
Competir is regular in the imperfect: competía, competías, competía, competíamos, competíais, competían.
Future
yo: competiré
Competir is regular in the future tense: competir + endings (é, ás, á, emos, éis, án).
Conditional
yo: competiría
Competir is regular in the conditional: competiría, competirías, competiría...
Present Subjunctive
yo: compita
Competir changes e > i in all forms of the present subjunctive (compita, compitamos).
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: compitiera
Based on the preterite 'compitieron', the stem is 'compitiera' for all forms.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: compite
Use 'compite' (tú) or 'compita' (usted) to command someone to compete.
Negative Imperative
yo: no compitas
Negative commands use the present subjunctive forms: no compitas, no compita.