Простий минулий час: ser і ir

Here is a gift: two of the most common Spanish verbs, ser (to be) and ir (to go), have exactly the same forms in the preterite. Learn one table, and you can say both "I was" and "I went".

Which verb is it?

The rest of the sentence tells you. A destination with a means "go"; anything else describing someone or something means "be":

• Fui al cine. - I went to the cinema. (ir)
• Fuimos a Pamplona para San Fermín. - We went to Pamplona for San Fermín. (ir)
• Mi abuelo fue profesor. - My grandfather was a teacher. (ser)
• La fiesta fue muy divertida. - The party was great fun. (ser)
• ¿Qué tal fue el viaje? - How was the trip? (ser)

In practice confusion is rare. Fue a Madrid is "she went to Madrid"; Fue en Madrid is "it was (it happened) in Madrid", about an event.

No accents

Unlike the regular preterite (hablé, habló), these forms carry no written accent: fui, fue, never *fuí, *fué. They are one syllable, and Spanish does not mark one-syllable words unless two of them need telling apart.

Was: fue or estuvo or era?

English "was" has three Spanish partners, and this is the first one you learn. Fue sums up something finished: El concierto fue increíble. Location and temporary states use estar: Estuve en casa todo el día. - I was at home all day. Descriptions of how things used to be use the imperfect era, which you meet at A2: De niño, era muy tímido.