Oír Conjugation 101: Conjugate Oír In Spanish

Oír is one of the most common irregular -IR verbs in Spanish. However, in addition to its irregularities, this verb has stem changes in certain tenses and for some of its subject pronouns. So, in this guide, we’ll go over the most important oír conjugation charts. Here’s what you’ll learn: 

• Oír Overview
• Indicative Tenses of Oír Conjugations
  • Present tense
  • Preterite tense
  • Imperfect tense
  • Near Future tense
  • Future tense
  • Conditional tense
  • Present Perfect tense
  • Past Perfect tense
  • Future Perfect tense
  • Conditional Perfect tense
  • Progressive tenses
• Subjunctive Tenses of Oír Conjugations
  • Present Subjunctive tense
  • Present Perfect Subjunctive tense
  • Imperfect Subjunctive tense
  • Past Perfect Subjunctive tense
• Imperative (Commands) of Oír Conjugations
  • Affirmative Commands
  • Negative Commands
• Uses & Examples
• Download Oír Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets
• Oír Conjugation Practice Quiz

Overview of Oír

Indicative Conjugations of Oír

Present tense

Oír conjugation in the present tense is irregular for the pronoun ‘yo’. Additionally, you must replace the stem oi for oy with other subject pronouns to ease the pronunciation. Check these changes in the conjugation chart below. 

The Spanish present tense of ‘oír’ is used to talk about what a person hears. For instance: Yo no oigo nada. 

Take Note: When conjugating -IR verbs, we must use the letter ‘y’ if the verb’s root ends in ‘i’ and the conjugation ending starts with an ‘e’ or ‘o’ (oies becomes oyes). We do this to avoid having these vowels in a row and ease the pronunciation. Huir, construir, and oír follow this pattern. 

Preterite tense

Oír preterite conjugations use the stem oy for the third-person singular and plural. You must also put an accent mark on the endings for the remaining pronouns. When conjugated to the Spanish preterite, oír communicates that a person heard something. 

For instance: ¿Oyeron eso?

Imperfect tense

In the Spanish imperfect tense, oír is a regular verb with no stem changes. Use this verb’s imperfect conjugations to talk about the things someone used to hear repeatedly in the past. For example: Mis hermanos nunca oían lo que mi mamá les decía. 

Near future

The near or immediate future in Spanish is conjugated with the formula ir (present tense) + a + oír. Use these forms to say that someone will hear something soon in the future. Apenas voy a oír el audio que me mandaste. 

Future simple tense

In the future simple tense, oír expresses that someone will hear something at some moment in the future. For example: Oirás un poco de ruido, pero no te preocupes. 

Conditional tense

Oír conjugated to the conditional tense is used to talk about the things someone would hear. For example: Si subieras el volumen, todos oiríamos mejor.

Present perfect tense

The present perfect tense in Spanish is formed by conjugating haber in the present + a verb in the past participle form (oído, for this conjugation guide). These forms allow you to refer to the things people have or haven’t heard. For example: ¿Qué han oído de la chica nueva?

Take Note: When forming a past participle verb in Spanish, you must use the accented ending -ído with verbs whose roots end with a vowel. Leer, reír, and caer are some examples of these verbs. 

Past perfect

When conjugated to the Spanish past perfect tense, this verb communicates that someone had or hadn’t heard something before another past action or point in time. For example: Ya había oído algo sobre este tema. 

Haber (imperfect form) + past participle of ‘oír’ is the formula we must use to form this tense.

Future perfect

Oír future perfect conjugations convey that a person will have heard something by or before a specific point in the future. These forms also refer to the things people may have heard. For instance: No sé si ya habrán oído esta conferencia. 

Conditional perfect

In the conditional perfect tense, oír is used to say that someone would have heard something if a past action happened. Si no te hubieras dormido, habrías escuchado lo que dijimos. 

Progressive tenses

The progressive tenses in Spanish are formed with estar conjugations + oyendo (present participle form of the verb). These conjugations of oír convey that someone is hearing something at the moment of speaking or, in the case of the past tenses (preterite or imperfect), that someone was hearing something when a past action took place. 

For example: Antes de que llegaras, estábamos oyendo esta canción.

Take Note: Present participles in Spanish also use the letter y when a verb’s root ends in a vowel. 

Oír Subjunctive Conjugations

You must use the subjunctive mood in Spanish when discussing wishes, suggestions, demands, hopes, doubts, or hypothetical situations. Below are oír’s conjugation charts for the most common subjunctive tenses to learn Spanish. 

Present subjunctive

Oír present subjunctive conjugations are irregular. Use the irregular stem oig to form this tense. When using these subjunctive conjugations, you request, hope, or suggest someone to hear something. For example: Te sugiero que oigas lo que Paola tiene que decirte. 

Present perfect subjunctive

Haber (present subjunctive) + oído is the formula you must use to conjugate oír to the Spanish present perfect subjunctive. These conjugations are used to express uncertainty or wonder if a person has already heard something or not. For instance: ¿Crees que nos haya oído?

Imperfect subjunctive

Oye is the root used to conjugate this verb to the imperfect subjunctive in Spanish. Use these subjunctive conjugations to talk about past demands, recommendations, or wishes someone had about a person hearing something. Mi mamá nos pidió que oyéramos esta canción. 

In Spanish, the imperfect subjunctive tense has two models:

Latin American Spanish version

Note: Since the subject pronoun vosotros is not used in Latin American Spanish, the conjugation chart above doesn’t include this conjugation. 

Castilian Spanish version

Past perfect subjunctive

Conjugate oír to the past perfect subjunctive when you want to say that someone would have heard something if a past condition occurred. You can also use these forms to convey regret for having heard or not heard something. 

For example: Ojalá te hubiera oído.

Oír Imperative Conjugations

The Spanish imperative forms are used to command people to do something (affirmative commands or imperative) or not do something (negative commands). 

Affirmative commands

To form this verb’s affirmative commands, you’ll use the oye for ‘tú’ and oig for ‘usted’ and ‘ustedes’. You can see these changes in the oír conjugation chart below. Use the affirmative imperative to command people to hear something. Luis, oye esta canción. 

Take Note: Oye, oiga, and oigan are also interjections in Spanish. However, in that context, these words are used to call someone and catch their attention.

Negative commands

Oig is the irregular stem used to form the negative imperative of ‘oír’. For this verb, use Spanish negative commands to order someone not to hear something. For example: ¡No oigas el audio que te mandé!  

Meanings of Oír & Examples

You’ve just learned how to conjugate oír in Spanish in the previous sections. This verb means ‘to hear’ or ‘to listen’, here are some examples of how to use it: 

(Direct object pronoun) + [oír conjugated] + (determiner) + (noun)

¿Me estás oyendo?
Are you listening to me?

No te oí, ¿a qué hora llegaste?
I didn’t hear you. What time did you get here? 

¿Ya habían oído esta canción?
Had you already heard this song before, guys?

Take Note: You can use different elements with the verb oír. Use nouns and Spanish determiners to say that you’re hearing something. If you wish to shorten your sentences and omit this information or you’re referring to a person, use Spanish direct object pronouns.

Download Oír Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

Oír is an irregular -IR verb in Spanish which also has stem changes in several tenses, so it can be somewhat challenging for learners to memorize. I’ve made a downloadable PDF which contains all the oír conjugation tables as well as example sentences to better understand how to use it.

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Oír Conjugation

You’ve just learned how to conjugate oír in Spanish. The next step is to take the oír conjugation practice quiz to test your knowledge of its various regular, irregular, and stem-changing forms.

Take Quiz