I tend to confuse FUI and FUE. Any suggestions?

Part I: writing fui and fue 

I have not written any entries on this blog for a while. A long while--sorry. This doesn't mean that I have not received questions from students, former students, and friends. One of the most common questions is the title of this post. Fui and Fue are very similar and confusing for English speakers. Let me know if the following explanation helps you remember how to write these words.

Grammar 

Fui and fue, or fue and fui, are different and similar. They’re both forms of the verbs "ser" (to be) and "ir" (to go) in the simple past tense. This is the complete conjugation: 

singular: yo fui, tú fuiste, usted fue, él fue, ella fue
plural: nosotros fuimos, vosotros fuisteis, ustedes fueron, ellos fueron, ellas fueron 


One of the problems is that “i” and “e” may have the same sound in English, but the sound is different in Spanish. Remember, 

 fui = sounds like foo-ee

…with emphasis on “ee;” in fact, in the past, the word “fui” had a written accent over the “i:” fuí. 


fue = sounds like foo-eh …with emphasis on “eh.” 


Think that the “i” on “fui” is the same as “I” (yo) and the “e” on “fue” is the “e” of “él” and “ella.” 

Yo fui
I was / I went

 usted fue,  él fue, ella fue
you (formal) were/went, he were/went, she were/went

 Perhaps the best way to remember the difference between fui and fue is that "I" (yo" goes with "i" (fui), and other people go with "e" (fue), or that all the singular, Spanish pronouns that have an "e" somewhere, goo "fue." This is not a rule, but it may help you to write "fue" and "fui" correctly.

"Voy a ir al gimnasio" vs. "voy al gimnasio"

Ir + a + infinitivo (infinitive) and Ir + a + lugar (place)

What is the difference between “voy a ir al gimnasio” and “voy al gimnasio”?

Voy a ir al gimnasio. = I am going to go to the gym.

The idea here is that I will go to the gym in the near future. Remember that “infinitive” is a verb that is not conjugated—like cantar (to sing), beber (to drink), escribir (to write).

In contrast,

Voy al gimnasio. = I go to the gym.

In the second sentence, the idea is that I USUALLY go to the gym, or that I always go to the gym. This is a general statement about going to the gym, which can be followed by “ahora” (now), “siempre” (always), or any other information about time, how you get there, if you go with somebody else, etc.

The first sentence, “Voy a ir al gimansio,” follows the structure ir + a + infinitivo (infinitive). With this structure we may talk about what we're going to do in the near future. It's a way of talking about the future, but using present tense. For some reason, in everyday life this periphrastic future is used more frequently than the formal future tense.