The preterite of huir is used to express when someone fled or ran away at a specific moment in the past. For example, “The thief fled from the police” – “El ladrón huyó de la policía.”

This verb follows the -uir spelling-changing pattern in the preterite. A ‘y’ is inserted before the ending in the third person singular (huyó) and plural (huyeron) forms.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Huir (to flee) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of huir indicates completed actions of fleeing or escaping.

To flee/escape: Used for specific instances of running away, for example Huyó de la ciudad (He fled from the city), or Huyeron del peligro (They fled from danger).

To avoid/evade: Refers to actively avoiding situations, for example Huyó de sus responsabilidades (He ran away from his responsibilities).

Examples

Examples of Huir in the Preterite (Past) Tense

El ladrón huyó por la ventana. (The thief fled through the window.)

Huí de la tormenta justo a tiempo. (I fled from the storm just in time.)

Los gatos huyeron cuando oyeron el ruido. (The cats fled when they heard the noise.)

¿Por qué huiste de la fiesta? (Why did you flee from the party?)

Huimos del incendio rápidamente. (We fled from the fire quickly.)

El pájaro huyó de su jaula. (The bird fled from its cage.)

Los testigos huyeron de la escena. (The witnesses fled from the scene.)

Huiste sin despedirte. (You fled without saying goodbye.)

El tiempo huyó como agua entre los dedos. (Time fled like water between fingers.)

Huimos de la responsabilidad. (We fled from responsibility.)

Los animales huyeron del peligro. (The animals fled from danger.)

Huyó de sus problemas. (He/she fled from his/her problems.)

Huí del frío del invierno. (I fled from the winter cold.)

Las mariposas huyeron hacia el sur. (The butterflies fled south.)

Huimos de la ciudad por el fin de semana. (We fled from the city for the weekend.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Huir (to flee) 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.