freír Preterite Conjugation
freír — to fry
Freír has a stem change (e > i) in the third-person forms and requires accents on most endings.
freír Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite for completed cooking actions, like when you finished frying dinner last night.
Notes on freír in the Preterite
It follows the pattern of -ir stem-changers in the preterite: the 'e' changes to 'i' only in the third-person (él/ellos) forms (frió, frieron).
Example Sentences
Ayer freí unos huevos para el desayuno.
Yesterday I fried some eggs for breakfast.
yo
Él frió las empanadas hace diez minutos.
He fried the empanadas ten minutes ago.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros freímos la carne el domingo pasado.
We fried the meat last Sunday.
nosotros
Ellos frieron todo el tocino.
They fried all the bacon.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using 'freió' instead of 'frió'.
Correct: frió
Why: In the third person, the 'e' changes to 'i' and merges into a single syllable with the ending.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: frío
Freír is a stem-changing verb where the 'e' becomes 'í' in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Imperfect
yo: freía
Freír is regular in the imperfect: freía, freías, freía, freíamos, freíais, freían.
Future
yo: freiré
Freír is regular in the future: freiré, freirás, freirá, freiremos, freiréis, freirán.
Conditional
yo: freiría
Freír is regular in the conditional: freiría, freirías, freiría, freiríamos, freiríais, freirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: fría
The present subjunctive of freír uses the 'i' stem change: fría, frías, fría, friamos, friáis, frían.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: friera
The imperfect subjunctive uses the 'fri-' stem: friera, frieras, friera, friéramos, frierais, frieran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: fríe
Give commands to fry: fríe (tú), fría (usted), friamos (nosotros), freíd (vosotros), frían (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no frías
Negative commands use the present subjunctive: no frías, no fría, no friamos, no friáis, no frían.