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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 Subjunctive Conjugation

herir — to wound

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

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

herir Imperfect Subjunctive Forms

yohiriera
túhirieras
él/ella/ustedhiriera
nosotroshiriéramos
vosotroshirierais
ellos/ellas/ustedeshirieran

When to Use the Imperfect Subjunctive

Use this for hypothetical situations (e.g., 'If I were to hurt you...') or after past-tense expressions of emotion.

Notes on herir in the Imperfect Subjunctive

All forms use the 'i' stem: hiriera, hirieras, hiriera, hiriéramos, hirierais, hirieran.

Example Sentences

  • Si yo te hiriera, me sentiría fatal.

    If I were to hurt you, I would feel terrible.

    yo

  • Tenía miedo de que hirieran al perro.

    I was afraid they might wound the dog.

    ellos/ellas/ustedes

  • Ojalá no nos hiriéramos con las herramientas.

    I wish we wouldn't hurt ourselves with the tools.

    nosotros

Common Mistakes

  • Mistake: Using 'heriera'.

    Correct: hiriera

    Why: The imperfect subjunctive is built from the 3rd person plural preterite (hirieron), so it must keep the 'i'.

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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.

Imperfect

yo: hería

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

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.

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.