Ocurrir means 'to happen' or 'to occur', and it is a regular -ir verb most often used in the third person, like its synonym pasar. ¿Qué ocurrió? (what happened?), ocurrió un accidente (an accident occurred). The reflexive ocurrírsele a alguien means 'to occur to someone / to have an idea': se me ocurre una idea (an idea occurs to me). Because narrating events is central to past-tense writing, ocurrir is a useful, slightly more formal alternative to pasar. As a regular -ir verb the conjugation is predictable.
Quick facts
Ocurrir (to happen) is a regular -ir verb.
Real sentences across different tenses — the kind of thing you'd actually say or write.
¿Qué ocurrió? (what happened?).
Ocurrió un accidente (an accident occurred).
Se me ocurre una idea (an idea occurs to me).
More formal than pasar.
Fixed expressions worth knowing — they come up in listening, reading and writing tasks.
Idiomatic expressions
Ocurrir is a regular verb. Make sure you know the endings for each tense — especially the preterite and subjunctive, which is where marks are most often lost.
ocurrir is a regular -ir verb — it follows the standard -ir pattern in every tense. That makes it a good one to drill: if you know ocurrir, you know the template for all regular -ir verbs.
Type conjugations from memory and get instant feedback. That's how you actually build the automatic recall the exam needs — not from reading tables.
Practice ocurrir now →Three questions. Press Enter to check each answer.
yo: ocurro, tú: ocurres, él: ocurre, nosotros: ocurrimos, vosotros: ocurrís, ellos: ocurren
Ocurrir is a regular -ir verb following the standard -ir pattern.
Use ocurrir in multiple tenses to show range — present, preterite and future at minimum. This is a key criterion for higher GCSE marks.
Verbs that are easy to confuse with ocurrir or that behave like it.
This reference is written for UK GCSE and A-Level Spanish learners and their teachers. It is designed for exam revision: every form is checked against standard conjugation rules, and the examples reflect the registers and topics that come up in the AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas specifications. Ocurrir is a high-frequency verb and appears often in exam papers. For active recall, use the free practice tool rather than only reading the tables.