Oír Conjugation: Learn Oír Verb Tenses Fast

The most fundamental and crucial sense a person may have is hearing. We must first hear someone clearly in order to understand them, particularly if they’re speaking in a different language, like Spanish!

Today we will give it a look at a very important verb, you will probably not use it in every single conversation or encounter, but it is common enough for you to study their conjugation in all tenses and put them into practice. This verb is an irregular verb, which means that it doesn’t follow the conjugation rules for the -IR regular verbs. 

The Spanish verb that we’re going to see is “Oír” (Oh-eer), and the equivalent in English is “to hear”.

Ready to improve your Spanish skills? Let’s learn how to conjugate “oír” and get you speaking expressively with confidence! We’ll introduce you to key rules, as well as provide practice conjugation tables for beginners through advanced learners. 

Plus, we’ve got a few extra gems: some common phrases using “oír” that will make the conversation flow like never before!

What is the Spanish verb oír?

The Spanish verb “oír” means to perceive or become aware of something using the auditive sense. Oír is used in contexts where you have no control over the sounds you’re exposed to since you never know what sound will come your way next. Your mind is always ready to take in new audio experiences and decipher them.

Oir Conjugation: Basic Conjugation

Oír vs Escuchar: what are the differences?

Struggling with the Spanish verbs “Escuchar” and “Oír”? You’re not alone! Even native speakers get confused when it comes to these two verbs. But mastering them can be a great way for Spanish learners to improve their skills in conversation, so don’t lose hope yet!

Escuchar Meaning

According to the RAE, The verb Escuchar in the Spanish language means to pay attention or apply the ear to hear (something or someone). Escuchar means to attentively lend your ear and use concentration in order to fully receive a message.

Oír Meaning

Spanish speakers have a keen sense of hearing, demonstrated through the verb oír. Denoting an involuntary type of listening that can’t be predetermined or predicted. To Spanish speakers, even the most subtle sounds are worth noticing!

Oír Conjugation: Learn all the variations of this Spanish verb

Before starting to explain the complete oír conjugations, let’s refresh our knowledge of the different moods in Spanish.

Moods refer to a speaker’s attitude toward what he or she is saying, which might entail such concepts as possibilities, probabilities, certainty, desires, doubts, or even commands.

That said, let’s check all the Spanish verb oir conjugations!

Indicative tenses of “Oír”.

It’s the main Spanish mood, and the most used across all verbs, so this is the most important one to learn. The indicative mood talks about actions, events, and states that represent facts.

Present tense

• Yo oigo la brisa pasar entre los pinos. – I hear the wind passing through the pines.

Preterite tense

• ¿Oiste ese sonido anoche? ¡Seguro fue un oso!  – Did you hear that sound? It was a bear for sure!

Imperfect tense

• Todas las mañanas oíamos los pajaros cantar. – Every morning we heard the birds singing.

Future tense

• ¡Oiremos al público gritar de emocion cuando ganemos esta final! – We’ll hear the crowd scream excitedly when we win this final!

Conditional tense

• ¡Oiría ese violín todo el día sin aburrirme! – I could listen to that violin all day without getting bored!

Indicative Compound tenses of “Oír” in Spanish

Spanish have the unique ability to communicate a more excellent range of meanings than other languages through its tiempo verbal compuesto, or Indicative Compound tenses. 

This construction uses two verbs rather than just one. At the heart of this structure is the verb haber ‘to have’ acting as an auxiliary verb to give your Spanish sentences extra clarity and accuracy when expressing ideas about time and action sequencing. 

Let’s check them out in detail!

Present perfect tense

Have you ever noticed how things that happened in the past sometimes still have an impact on us today? That’s because of something called the present perfect, a super useful compound tense that allows us to express past events or some past action that currently affects the present.

• He oído ese sonido en mi carro desde la semana pasada. – I’ve been hearing that sound in my car since last week.

Pluperfect tense (past perfect)

The Spanish past perfect (Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto) enables one to articulate an event that happened before another past action. This can be achieved by combining the use of “Haber” in its preterite form and a verb’s past participle.

The Spanish past perfect tense is employed when an action occurred prior to another action in the past. For example:

• Ella había oído a los pájaros cantando cuando el sol apenas se estaba poniendo. – She had heard the birds singing when the sun was just setting.

Future Perfect tense

Have plans for the future? Use the Spanish future perfect (Futuro Compuesto) to express that a task will be completed by a specific deadline. 

This compound tense requires using haber in its future form and another verb as a past participle, providing accurate linguistic expression of your goal’s timeline!

• Cuando llegue devuelta a casa, habré oído almenos 1000 claxons de carros! – When I get back home, I will have heard at least 1000 car horns!

Conditional perfect tense

The Compound Conditional (el Condicional Compuesto). Sometimes, we need to express that we would have done something if a condition had been in place. The compound conditional uses the verb “haber” in its conditional form and another verb in its past participle form.

• Habría oído la alarma si lo hubiese puesto más cerca! – I would have heard the alarm if I had put it closer!

Subjunctive tenses of the verb Oír

The subjunctive is one of the three moods that we use in Spanish (along with Indicative and Imperative) and are used when the speaker wants to express a lack of certainty in a statement.

Present Subjunctive

• ¡Ojalá alguien te oiga, nos vamos a congelar aqui afuera! – I hope someone hears you, we’re going to freeze out here!

Imperfect Subjunctive

• ¡Como quisiera que alguien oyera lo que acabo de cantar! – How I wish someone could hear what I just sang!

Future Subjunctive

• Si me oyeres y siguieres mi voz podrás gozar de mucha paz.– If you will listen to me and follow my voice you will be able to enjoy a lot of peace.

Compound Subjunctive tenses of Oír 

The Spanish subjunctive mood is expressed in two compound tenses: the present perfect subjunctive (pretérito perfecto) and the past perfect subjunctive or pluperfect (pluscuamperfecto). There’s also the future perfect in the subjunctive (futuro perfecto), but it’s no longer used.

Remember that the imperfect subjunctive has two sets of conjugations, thus the pluperfect subjunctive also has two sets of conjugations.

Present Perfect Subjunctive

• No creo que nosotros hayamos oído alguna vez de el. – I don’t think we’ve ever heard of him.

Past Perfect Subjunctive

• Aunque lo hubieran oído, no habrían creído; y por tanto no les fue comunicado. – Even if they had heard it, they would not have believed it; and therefore it was not communicated to them.
• Es como si nunca hubiesen oído las canciones de shakira! – It is as if they had never heard Shakira’s songs!

Imperative conjugation of Oír

Oír, as a command,  is frequently used to call someone’s attention. The forms oye, oiga, oigan, and óyeme are used as conversation starters. It can be used as a word similar to “Hey!” in English. 

Affirmative Imperative

• Al menos, oigamos lo que tiene para decir. – At least let us hear what he has to say.

Negative Imperative 

• ¡No lo oigas! El solo quiere confundirte. – Don’t hear a word, he just wants to confuse you!

Popular phrases and expressions with Spanish verb Oír

¡Oído al tambor!

Once again, The verb oír is important and commonly used in Spanish even though you may not use it too frequently, it is a good idea to review its conjugations from time to time. Also, make sure you study and practice the differences between Oír and Escuchar!

Practice makes perfect, so get out there and start conjugating those irregular verbs! With a little bit of effort, you’ll be using this irregular verb like a native speaker in no time. 

Remember, the only way to conjugate “oír” is through practice and patience, so don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The more you put what you’ve learned into practice, the better you’ll become at conjugating irregular verbs.

If you’re having trouble mastering the oír conjugation, don’t worry! SpanishVIP is here to help. Our expert instructors will guide you through the intricacies of Spanish verb conjugations and assist you in achieving your language goals. 

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