oír Imperfect Conjugation
oír — to hear
The imperfect of oír is regular for -ir verbs but requires an accent on the 'í' (oía, oías, oía).
oír Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe background noise, a sound that was ongoing, or your general ability to hear in the past.
Notes on oír in the Imperfect
While it follows the standard -ía endings for -ir verbs, remember that oír always keeps the accent on the 'i' to separate the vowels.
Example Sentences
De niño, oía la radio todas las noches.
As a child, I used to listen to the radio every night.
yo
Nosotros oíamos los pájaros desde la cama.
We used to hear the birds from the bed.
nosotros
Ustedes oían pasos en el piso de arriba.
You all were hearing footsteps on the floor above.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: oia
Correct: oía
Why: Without the accent, the 'i' and 'a' would blend into a diphthong; the accent is required for the correct three-syllable pronunciation (o-í-a).
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: oigo
The present tense of oír is highly irregular, featuring a 'g' in the 'yo' form (oigo) and 'y' in most other forms.
Preterite
yo: oí
The preterite of oír uses 'y' in the third-person forms (oyó, oyeron) and adds accents to every 'i'.
Future
yo: oiré
The future tense of oír is completely regular: just add endings to the infinitive (oiré, oirás, oirá).
Conditional
yo: oiría
The conditional of oír is regular: add the endings -ía, -ías, -ía to the infinitive.
Present Subjunctive
yo: oiga
The present subjunctive of oír is based on the 'yo' form (oigo), resulting in the stem 'oig-'.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: oyera
The imperfect subjunctive of oír uses the 'oy-' stem from the preterite (oyera, oyeras, oyera).
Affirmative Imperative
yo: oye
The imperative of oír uses 'oye' (tú) and 'oiga' (usted) to get someone's attention.
Negative Imperative
yo: no oigas
The negative imperative of oír uses 'no' plus the present subjunctive forms (no oigas, no oiga).