Hacer Preterite Conjugation: Spanish Examples & Usage

Last year, Elena took a cooking class in Seville. When she came back, her friends asked about the experience. She wanted to say "I made paella," "we did a wine tasting," and "it was really hot that week"—all of which required the same verb in the same tense: hacer in the preterite. She fumbled through "hice… hicimos… hizo," mixing up which form went where. It took her about a week of focused practice before those forms clicked. That's the reality for most learners: hacer preterite is irregular, but it's a small, manageable set of forms that become second nature with real practice.

This guide gives you every hacer preterite form, explains the spelling change that confuses most learners, breaks down when to choose preterite over imperfect, and includes enough examples and exercises to make these forms stick.

Hacer Preterite Conjugation Chart

The irregular stem is hic- for all forms except the third person singular, which uses hiz-.

Why Hizo and Not Hicio? The Spelling Change Explained

This is the most common question about hacer preterite. Here's the logic:

In Spanish, the letter c has two sounds:

• Before a, o, u → hard /k/ sound (casa, come, cubo)
• Before e, i → soft /s/ sound (cena, cine)

The preterite stem is hic-. When you add the third-person ending -o, you'd get "hico"—but co would produce a hard /k/ sound, which is wrong. To keep the soft /s/ sound, Spanish swaps c for z: hizo.

This same principle appears in other verbs:

• empezar → empecé (z → c before e)
• alcanzar → alcancé (z → c before e)

Once you understand the logic, hizo makes perfect sense.

When to Use Hacer Preterite

The preterite describes completed, one-time actions in the past. If the action has a clear beginning and end, or happened at a specific time, you need the preterite.

Completed Daily Actions

• Hice la cena a las ocho. (I made dinner at eight.)
• Hiciste un buen trabajo. (You did a good job.)
• Hicimos la compra ayer. (We did the grocery shopping yesterday.)

Specific Past Events

• Hice un viaje a Japón en 2023. (I took a trip to Japan in 2023.)
• Hicimos una fiesta sorpresa para María. (We threw a surprise party for María.)
• ¿Qué hiciste el fin de semana? (What did you do over the weekend?)

Weather on a Specific Day or Period

• Hizo mucho frío ayer. (It was very cold yesterday.)
• Hizo un calor terrible el verano pasado. (It was terribly hot last summer.)
• Hizo buen tiempo durante la boda. (The weather was nice during the wedding.)

One-Time Decisions or Actions

• Hice una pregunta difícil. (I asked a hard question.)
• Hizo caso omiso de la advertencia. (He ignored the warning.)
• Hicieron una oferta y la aceptamos. (They made an offer and we accepted.)

Comparison: Preterite vs Imperfect with Hacer

Both tenses translate as "did" or "was doing" in English, but they describe fundamentally different situations:

Side-by-Side Examples

• Hice ejercicio ayer. (I exercised yesterday.) — completed, specific day

• Hacía ejercicio todos los días. (I used to exercise every day.) — habitual routine

• Hizo frío el martes. (It was cold on Tuesday.) — specific day, over

• Hacía frío cuando salimos. (It was cold when we left.) — background description

• Hice una pregunta. (I asked a question.) — one-time completed action

• Siempre hacía preguntas en clase. (He always used to ask questions in class.) — habitual

Time Markers That Signal Preterite

When you see these words, you almost always need the preterite:

Common Expressions with Hacer Preterite

These phrases appear constantly in everyday conversation:

• ¿Qué hiciste? — What did you do?
• No hice nada. — I didn't do anything.
• Hizo bien / mal. — He/She did well / badly.
• Lo hice yo. — I did it.
• Hicimos todo lo posible. — We did everything possible.
• ¿Qué tiempo hizo? — What was the weather like? (past)
• Hizo falta + noun — It was necessary / It was needed: Hizo falta más tiempo.
• Se hizo tarde. — It got late.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

1. Using the wrong stem for third person: "Hició" → Hizo. Remember: c → z before "o" to keep the /s/ sound.

2. Accent mark errors: None of the hacer preterite forms carry accent marks. It's hice, not hicé.

3. Using imperfect for completed actions: "Hacía la cena anoche" → Hice la cena anoche. "Anoche" signals a specific, completed time.

4. Confusing hacer preterite with future: "Haré" = I will do (future). "Hice" = I did (preterite). The stems are completely different: har- vs hic-.

5. Forgetting impersonal weather: "El día hizo frío" is acceptable, but the standard is Hizo frío (no subject). Weather expressions with hacer are impersonal.

Step-by-Step Plan: Mastering Hacer Preterite in 5 Days

• Day 1: Memorize all six forms. Write them out, say them aloud: hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron. Focus on the hic-/hiz- distinction.
• Day 2: Answer "¿Qué hiciste ayer?" in five different sentences. Use a different person each time.
• Day 3: Practice weather in the preterite. Describe the weather for five past days: "El lunes hizo sol. El martes hizo frío."
• Day 4: Practice preterite vs imperfect. Write five pairs of sentences: one completed action, one habitual past action.
• Day 5: Tell a story about a past trip or event using at least four hacer preterite forms. Read it aloud.

Practice Exercises

Exercise 1 — Fill in the correct preterite form:

1. Ayer yo ___ una torta de chocolate. (hice)
2. ¿Qué ___ tú el fin de semana? (hiciste)
3. Nosotros ___ un viaje a la playa. (hicimos)
4. Ella ___ la cena para todos. (hizo)

Exercise 2 — Preterite or imperfect?

1. ___ la tarea todos los días cuando era estudiante. (Hacía — habitual)
2. Anoche ___ la tarea muy rápido. (hice — completed, specific time)
3. ___ mucho calor mientras caminábamos. (Hacía — background description)
4. ___ mucho calor el sábado. (Hizo — specific past day)

Exercise 3 — Translate to Spanish:

1. I made dinner yesterday. → Hice la cena ayer.
2. What did you do last week? → ¿Qué hiciste la semana pasada?
3. It was cold last winter. → Hizo frío el invierno pasado.
4. We did everything possible. → Hicimos todo lo posible.

Build Your Preterite Confidence Through Practice

Hacer preterite sticks when you use it to talk about real things—what you cooked last night, what the weather was like on your vacation, what you accomplished this week. Every story about the past is a chance to practice hice, hizo, hicimos. If you want daily conversation practice with instant corrections on your past tenses, try Parlai and start telling your stories in Spanish today.