Why do verbs ser and ir have identical conjugations in the preterite?

Berges Institute • Jun 27, 2023 • 1 minute
Updated Sep 25, 2023
Why do verbs ser and ir have identical conjugations in the preterite?
The Graf Method for Spanish Language

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In this volume, we discuss the alphabet, definite and indefinite articles, and verbs ser and estar, among other topics.

Verbs ser and ir are, as we know, different verbs in Spanish. Here are both verbs conjugated in all six persons, in the present tense:

Ser, presente

Soy
Eres
Es
Somos
(Sois)
Son

Ir, presente

Voy
Vas
Va
Vamos
(Vais)
Van

Many students find it shocking to learn that, in the past tense, both verbs are identical:

Ser, pretérito perfecto

Fui
Fuiste
Fue
Fuimos
(Fuisteis)
Fueron

Ir, pretérito perfecto

Fui
Fuiste
Fue
Fuimos
(Fuisteis)
Fueron

And they ask: “How can this be?” Well, there is an explanation: Spanish developed from Vulgar Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Roman soldiers during the Second Punic War (3rd Century BC). In Classical Latin, the equivalent verbs for ser and ir (esse and ire, respectively) did have different past tenses, but Spanish, as it developed from a not-so-well-spoken version of the ancient language, took the Latin past tense for esse (ser) and applied it to both verbs ser and ir, ignoring the original Latin past tense for ire.

Isn’t that interesting?

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