Inklingo
A curious cat pausing and looking toward a closed door as if it senses someone approaching.

intuir Preterite Conjugation

intuir — to sense

B2irregular -ir★★★
Quick answer:

In the preterite, intuir changes 'i' to 'y' in the third person forms: intuí, intuiste, intuyó, intuimos, intuisteis, intuyeron.

intuir Preterite Forms

yointuí
túintuiste
él/ella/ustedintuyó
nosotrosintuimos
vosotrosintuisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedesintuyeron

When to Use the Preterite

Use the preterite when you had a sudden realization or a specific moment of intuition in the past.

Notes on intuir in the Preterite

The 'i' becomes a 'y' in the él/ella/usted and ellos/ellas/ustedes forms to avoid having three vowels in a row.

Example Sentences

  • Intuyó la verdad en cuanto me vio.

    He sensed the truth as soon as he saw me.

    él/ella/usted

  • Ellos intuyeron que la fiesta sería un éxito.

    They sensed that the party would be a success.

    ellos/ellas/ustedes

  • Yo intuí que me estabas mintiendo.

    I sensed that you were lying to me.

    yo

Common Mistakes

  • Mistake: Writing 'intuió' with an 'i'.

    Correct: intuyó

    Why: In Spanish, an unstressed 'i' between two vowels must change to a 'y'.

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Related Tenses

Present

yo: intuyo

The present of intuir changes the 'i' to 'y' in all forms except nosotros and vosotros: intuyo, intuyes, intuye, intuimos, intuís, intuyen.

Imperfect

yo: intuía

The imperfect of intuir is regular for -ir verbs: intuía, intuías, intuía, intuíamos, intuíais, intuían.

Future

yo: intuiré

The future of intuir is regular: intuiré, intuirás, intuirá, intuiremos, intuiréis, intuirán.

Conditional

yo: intuiría

The conditional of intuir is regular: intuiría, intuirías, intuiría, intuiríamos, intuiríais, intuirían.

Present Subjunctive

yo: intuya

The present subjunctive uses a 'y' in all forms: intuya, intuyas, intuya, intuyamos, intuyáis, intuyan.

Imperfect Subjunctive

yo: intuyera

The imperfect subjunctive uses the 'y' from the preterite: intuyera, intuyeras, intuyera, intuyéramos, intuyerais, intuyeran.

Affirmative Imperative

yo: intuye

The imperative uses 'y' for most commands: intuye (tú), intuya (usted), intuyamos (nosotros), intuid (vosotros), intuyan (ustedes).

Negative Imperative

yo: no intuyas

The negative imperative always uses the present subjunctive: no intuyas, no intuya, no intuyamos, no intuyáis, no intuyan.