vestir Preterite Conjugation
vestir — to dress
Vestir is a stem-changer in the preterite, but only in the third-person forms: vistió and vistieron.
vestir Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite when someone got dressed for a specific event or when you are describing the action of dressing someone (like a child) at a specific moment in the past.
Notes on vestir in the Preterite
This is a 'slipper verb.' The 'e' changes to 'i' only in the él/ella/usted and ellos/ellas/ustedes forms. All other forms follow regular -ir patterns.
Example Sentences
Me vestí rápidamente para no llegar tarde.
I got dressed quickly so as not to be late.
yo
Ella vistió a los niños para la fiesta.
She dressed the children for the party.
él/ella/usted
Ellos se vistieron de gala para la boda.
They dressed up in formal wear for the wedding.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: visteron
Correct: vistieron
Why: Learners often forget the e > i stem change that occurs in the third-person plural of this verb.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: visto
Vestir has an e > i stem change in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Imperfect
yo: vestía
Vestir is regular in the imperfect: vestía, vestías, vestía, vestíamos, vestíais, vestían.
Future
yo: vestiré
Vestir is regular in the future: vestiré, vestirás, vestirá, vestiremos, vestiréis, vestirán.
Conditional
yo: vestiría
Vestir is regular in the conditional: vestiría, vestirías, vestiría, vestiríamos, vestiríais, vestirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: vista
The present subjunctive of vestir follows the e > i change in ALL forms.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: vistiera
The imperfect subjunctive uses the 'visti-' stem: vistiera, vistieras, vistiera, vistiéramos, vistierais, vistieran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: viste
The imperative uses 'viste' for tú and 'vistan' for formal commands.
Negative Imperative
yo: no vistas
The negative imperative always uses the present subjunctive: no vistas, no vista, no vistamos, no vistáis, no vistan.