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A high quality simple colorful storybook illustration showing a small cartoon child character holding a knee with a colorful bandage on it, signifying a physical wound.

herir Imperfect Conjugation

herir — to wound

A2irregular (e>ie stem change) -ir★★★★
Quick answer:

Herir is regular in the imperfect: hería, herías, hería, heríamos, heríais, herían.

herir Imperfect Forms

yohería
túherías
él/ella/ustedhería
nosotrosheríamos
vosotrosheríais
ellos/ellas/ustedesherían

When to Use the Imperfect

Use the imperfect to describe an ongoing state of being wounded or a past habit of hurting others' feelings.

Notes on herir in the Imperfect

There are no stem changes in the imperfect for -ir verbs like herir.

Example Sentences

  • El ruido le hería los oídos cada mañana.

    The noise used to hurt his ears every morning.

    él/ella/usted

  • Antes, ellos siempre herían a los demás con sus burlas.

    Before, they always hurt others with their mocking.

    ellos/ellas/ustedes

  • Sentía que la traición me hería el alma.

    I felt that the betrayal was wounding my soul.

    yo

Common Mistakes

  • Mistake: Adding a stem change like 'hiría'.

    Correct: hería

    Why: The imperfect indicative never takes a stem change for -ir verbs.

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Related Tenses

Present

yo: hiero

Herir is a stem-changing verb where the 'e' becomes 'ie' in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.

Preterite

yo: herí

The preterite of herir features a stem change (e > i) in the third-person forms: hirió and hirieron.

Future

yo: heriré

The future tense of herir is completely regular, using the full infinitive as the stem.

Conditional

yo: heriría

The conditional of herir is regular: heriría, herirías, heriría, heriríamos, heriríais, herirían.

Present Subjunctive

yo: hiera

Herir has two stem changes in the subjunctive: 'ie' in most forms, and 'i' in nosotros/vosotros.

Imperfect Subjunctive

yo: hiriera

The imperfect subjunctive uses the 'hirier-' stem derived from the preterite third-person.

Affirmative Imperative

yo: hiere

The imperative uses 'hiere' (tú) and 'hiera' (usted), following the present stem changes.

Negative Imperative

yo: no hieras

Negative commands use the present subjunctive forms: no hieras, no hiera, no hiramos, no hiráis, no hieran.