The preterite of deshacer is used to express when someone undid or dismantled something at a specific moment in the past. For example, when you want to say “I undid all the work yesterday” – “Deshice todo el trabajo ayer.”

This is an irregular verb in the preterite tense. It follows the conjugation pattern of hacer, with the stem changing to ‘deshic-‘ in most forms.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Deshacer (to undo) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of deshacer expresses completed acts of undoing or taking apart.

To undo/take apart: Used for reversing actions, for example Deshice el nudo (I undid the knot).

To destroy/break down: Describes dismantling something, for example Deshicieron el acuerdo (They broke down the agreement).

Examples

Examples of Deshacer in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Deshice la maleta apenas llegué al hotel. (I unpacked the suitcase as soon as I arrived at the hotel.)

El viento deshizo el peinado que tanto me costó. (The wind undid the hairstyle that took me so long.)

Deshiciste todo el trabajo que habíamos terminado. (You undid all the work we had finished.)

Se deshizo el nudo con facilidad. (The knot came undone easily.)

Deshicimos los planes del viaje debido al mal tiempo. (We canceled the travel plans due to bad weather.)

Los niños deshicieron la cama recién tendida. (The children unmade the freshly made bed.)

Deshice el trato cuando descubrí el engaño. (I undid the deal when I discovered the deception.)

El sol deshizo la nieve acumulada. (The sun melted the accumulated snow.)

Deshicieron la sociedad después de años de colaboración. (They dissolved the partnership after years of collaboration.)

Deshiciste el error justo a tiempo. (You corrected the mistake just in time.)

La lluvia deshizo el castillo de arena. (The rain destroyed the sandcastle.)

Deshicimos el camino cuando nos perdimos. (We retraced our steps when we got lost.)

El tiempo deshizo todas las evidencias. (Time erased all the evidence.)

Deshicieron el acuerdo en el último momento. (They undid the agreement at the last moment.)

Deshice los cambios que no funcionaban. (I undid the changes that weren’t working.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Deshacer (to undo) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish) with English Translations:

This post covers Castilian Spanish. For Latin American Spanish, click here

Synonyms

The Preterite tense is also known as the Simple Past, Past Simple, Definite Past, Absolute Past, or Past Tense Indicative in English, and as Pretérito Perfecto Simple, Pretérito Indefinido, Pretérito Simple, Pasado Simple, or Pretérito de Indicativo in Spanish.