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A person looking at a bright, glowing butterfly landing on their hand with a look of peaceful anticipation.

presentir Preterite Conjugation

presentir — to have a feeling

B1stem-changing -ir★★★
Quick answer:

Presentir has a 'slipper' stem change in the preterite: it is regular except for the third-person forms (presintió, presintieron).

presentir Preterite Forms

yopresentí
túpresentiste
él/ella/ustedpresintió
nosotrospresentamos
vosotrospresentisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedespresintieron

When to Use the Preterite

Use the preterite for a specific moment in the past when a feeling or intuition suddenly hit you.

Notes on presentir in the Preterite

The 'e' changes to 'i' only in the third-person singular (él/ella/usted) and plural (ellos/ellas/ustedes). All other forms are regular.

Example Sentences

  • Presentí que algo iba a pasar.

    I had a feeling that something was going to happen.

    yo

  • Ella presintió el accidente antes de que ocurriera.

    She sensed the accident before it happened.

    él/ella/usted

  • Ellos presintieron que la fiesta sería un éxito.

    They sensed that the party would be a success.

    ellos/ellas/ustedes

Common Mistakes

  • Mistake: Saying 'presentió' instead of 'presintió'.

    Correct: presintió

    Why: Third-person preterite forms of -ir verbs with an 'e' in the stem must change to 'i'.

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Related Tenses

Present

yo: presiento

Presentir is an e-ie stem-changer in the present tense (presiento, presientes, presiente, presienten).

Imperfect

yo: presentía

The imperfect of presentir is regular: presentía, presentías, presentía, etc.

Future

yo: presentiré

Presentir is fully regular in the future tense: just add endings to the infinitive.

Conditional

yo: presentiría

The conditional of presentir is regular: presentiría, presentirías, presentiría, etc.

Present Subjunctive

yo: presienta

Presentir is a stem-changing verb in the present subjunctive, switching e to ie (presienta) and e to i (presintamos).

Imperfect Subjunctive

yo: presintiera

The imperfect subjunctive of presentir uses the 'presintie-' stem for all forms (presintiera, presintieras).

Affirmative Imperative

yo: presiente

The imperative uses 'presiente' (tú) and 'presientan' (ustedes) to command someone to trust their intuition.

Negative Imperative

yo: no presientas

The negative imperative uses the present subjunctive forms: no presientas, no presienta.