Events happen, and ideas can come to someone.

The idea

Use ocurrir for an event. With se me ocurrió an idea came to me; the verb agrees with the idea.

Patterns to compare
PersonaPresentePretérito
yoocurroocurrí
túocurresocurriste
él / ella / ustedocurreocurrió
nosotros / nosotrasocurrimosocurrimos
vosotros / vosotrasocurrísocurristeis
ellos / ellas / ustedesocurrenocurrieron

Examples

  • El accidente ocurrió cerca del puente.The accident happened near the bridge.
  • La reunión ocurre cada lunes.The meeting takes place every Monday.
  • Anoche ocurrieron dos cortes de luz.Two power cuts occurred last night.
  • Se me ocurrió una idea para el jardín.An idea for the garden occurred to me.
  • A mi hermano se le ocurrió pintar la mesa.My brother thought of painting the table.
  • ¿Qué ocurrió durante el viaje?What happened during the trip?

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Spanish voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

Do not omit se in the idea construction; ocurrió has an accent in the past.

Try it yourself

  1. Choose the correct form: El cambio ___ ayer. (ocurrió / ocurrieron)

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    ocurrió

    ocurrió agrees with one change and marks the past.

  2. Choose the correct form: Varios problemas ___ esta mañana. (ocurrió / ocurrieron)

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    ocurrieron

    ocurrieron agrees with several problems.

  3. Choose the correct form: Se ___ ocurrió una solución. (me / mi)

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    me

    me identifies the person who got the idea.

Use it today

Describe an event and an idea that came to you.