Spanish Preterite Tense – Learn and Practice

Welcome 😊 to our grammar lesson on the Spanish Preterite Tense (“Pretérito Indefinido” or “Pretérito Perfecto Simple”).

We use the Preterite to talk about actions in the past.

A couple of sentences in Spanish Preterite Tense
A couple of sentences in Preterite Tense

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to conjugate verbs in Preterite Tense and use them in sentences.

You will also find a Quiz and Exercises to practice.


Note: If you are looking for a lesson on how to choose between the Preterite and Imperfect tenses, go here ➡️ SPANISH PRETERITE VS IMPERFECT


Conjugation of verbs in Preterite Tense

In order to learn the conjugations, we will divide verbs into two grupos:

  • On one hand, regular and almost-regular verbs
  • On the other hand, very irregular verbs

Regular and almost-regular verbs

Regular verbs

The following table shows the endings we need to add to regular verbs in -ar (example “hablar”), -er (example “beber”) and -ir (example “partir”):

hablar

to speak

beber

to drink

partir

to depart

yohablébebípartí
hablastebebistepartiste
élhablóbebpart
nosotroshablamosbebimospartimos
vosotroshablasteisbebisteispartisteis
elloshablaronbebieronpartieron

Notice that the endings for verbs in “-er” and “-ir” are identical.


Almost-regular verbs

The verbs we are calling almost-regular add the same endings as regular verbs.

But they have one of the following irregularities:

  • In some verbs, a vowel “e” becomes “i” for the persons “él” and “ellos”.

Examples:

pedir

to ask for

repetir

to repeat

sentir

to feel

yopedírepetísentí
pedisterepetistesentiste
élpidrepitsint
nosotrospedimosrepetimossentimos
vosotrospedisteisrepetisteissentisteis
ellospidieronrepitieronsintieron


  • In other verbs, a vowel “o” becomes “u” for “él” and “ellos”.

Examples:

dormir

to sleep

morir

to die

yodormímorí
dormistemoriste
éldurmmur
nosotrosdormimosmorimos
vosotrosdormisteismoristeis
ellosdurmieronmurieron


  • In other verbs, a vowel “i” becomes “y” in the ending for “él” and “ellos”. Also, these verbs have accent marks for all persons except “ellos”.

Examples:

creer

to believe

caer

to fall

leer

to read

yocreícaíleí
creístecaísteleíste
élcreyócayóleyó
nosotroscreímoscaímosleímos
vosotroscreísteiscaísteisleísteis
elloscreyeroncayeronleyeron


Accent marks on regular and almost-regular verbs

All regular and almost-regular verbs have accent marks for “yo” and “él”.

Have you noticed that in the tables above? 🙂

And verbs of the last type we have studied (where a letter “y” appears) have even more accent marks!



Very irregular verbs

Now let’s study the verbs we are calling very irregular. First we have “ver”, “dar”, “ser” and “ir”:

  • “ver” adds the regular endings, but it has no accent marks at all:
ver

to see

yovi
viste
élvio
nosotrosvimos
vosotrosvisteis
ellosvieron


  • “dar” adds the endings for verbs in “-er” and “-ir”, instead of “-ar”. Also, no accent marks:
dar

to give

yodi
diste
éldio
nosotrosdimos
vosotrosdisteis
ellosdieron


  • “ser” (to be) and “ir” (to go) are identical in Preterite Tense, with a very irregular conjugation:
ser / ir

to be / to go

yofui
fuiste
élfue
nosotrosfuimos
vosotrosfuisteis
ellosfueron


Rest of very irregular verbs

The rest of very irregular verbs conjugate in the following way:

Each verb has an irregular stem in Preterite.
Also, the endings are different from the regular ones.

The following table shows the most important verbs of this type. In the middle column, we see the irregular stem we need to use in Preterite. In the right column, the endings for each person:

VerbIrregular StemEndings for these irregular verbs
andar

to walk

anduv--e (yo)
-iste (tú)
-o (él)
-imos (nosotros)
-isteis (vosotros)
-ieron / *-eron (ellos)
estar

to be

estuv-
hacer

to do

hic-
poder

can

pud-
poner

to put

pus-
querer

to want

quis-
saber

to know

sup-
tener

to have

tuv-
venir

to come

vin-
decir

to say

dij-*
producir

to produce

produj-*
conducir

to drive

conduj-*
traer

to bring

traj-*

* For verbs whose stem ends in “j”, the ending for “ellos” is “-eron”. For the rest, it is “-ieron”.


Now that we understand the process, here are again the verbs in the table above, fully conjugated in Preterite:

Irregular StemFull conjugation
andar

to walk

anduv-anduve, anduviste, anduvo, anduvimos, anduvisteis, anduvieron
estar

to be

estuv-estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvisteis, estuvieron
hacer

to do

hic-hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron
CAREFUL! 3rd person is "hizo", not "hico"
poder

can

pud-pude, pudiste, pudo, pudimos, pudisteis, pudieron
poner

to put

pus-puse, pusiste, puso, pusimos, pusisteis, pusieron
querer

to want

quis-quise, quisiste, quiso, quisimos, quisisteis, quisieron
saber

to know

sup-supe, supiste, supo, supimos, supisteis, supieron
tener

to have

tuv-tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron
venir

to come

vin-vine, viniste, vino, vinimos, vinisteis, vinieron
decir

to say

dij-dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron
producir

to produce

produj-produje, produjiste, produjo, produjimos, produjisteis, produjeron
conducir

to drive

conduj-conduje, condujiste, condujo, condujimos, condujisteis, condujeron
traer

to bring

traj-traje, trajiste, trajo, trajimos, trajisteis, trajeron


No accent marks on very irregular verbs

Very irregular verbs do not have accent marks, at all.

Have you noticed that in the tables above? 🙂

Uses of the Preterite

We use the Preterite to talk about actions and events in the past. It tends to answer the question: “What happened?”

To be more specific, the typical cases where we use the Preterite are:

Past actions that happened once or a stated number of times

It doesn’t matter how long the action took.

What matters is that we express it as a completed action that happened once or a stated number of times:

Juan compró una lavadora ayer.
Juan bought a washing machine yesterday.

Yo estudié Biología en la Universidad de Madrid.
I studied Biology at the University of Madrid.

Ana y María fueron al cine cuatro veces el mes pasado.
Ana and María went to the movies four times last month.

El año pasado estuve enfermo dos veces.
Last year I was sick twice.


Past actions with a stated duration

Yo viví diez años en Perú.
I lived in Peru for ten years.

Lola y Pablo fueron amigos durante toda su infancia.
Lola and Pablo were friends throughout their childhood.


A chain of events in the past, one after another

We use the Preterite when we relate a series of events, one after another: “This happened, then that happened, etc.”

We can illustrate this with the following graph. Look at it and then read the examples below: each example is a chain of events, one after another.

A graphic that represents a series of actions expressed in Preterite Tense

Ayer, Laura se levantó a las siete de la mañana. Luego se duchó, desayunó, se vistió y fue a hacer la compra.
Yesterday, Laura got up at seven in the morning. Then she took a shower, ate breakfast, got dressed, and went shopping.

Primero estudié en un colegio público. Más tarde mis padres me metieron en uno privado.
First I studied in a public school. Later my parents put me in a private one.


Beginnings and endings in the past

When we talk about the past, we tend to conjugate verbs that express beginnings and endings in Preterite Tense. For example:

  • empezar = to start / to begin
  • comenzar = to start / to begin
  • terminar = to finish / to end
  • acabar = to finish / to end

La película empezó a las diez.
The movie started at ten o’clock.

Las personas comenzaron a hablar.
People started talking.

La película terminó a las doce.
The movie ended at twelve o’clock.

Acabé de contar la historia.
I finished telling the story.


Keywords with the Preterite

The following keywords tend to work well in sentences with the Preterite:

  • ayer = yesterday
  • anteayer = the day before yesterday
  • el otro día = the other day
  • la semana pasada = last week
  • el mes pasado = last month
  • el año pasado = last year
  • hace X días = X days ago
  • hace X semanas = X weeks ago
  • hace X meses = X months ago
  • hace X años = X years ago
  • hace mucho tiempo = a long time ago

Examples:

pintaste un paisaje el otro día.
You painted a landscape the other day.

El año pasado aprendimos italiano.
Last year we learned Italian.

Ellos fueron a Argentina hace seis meses.
They went to Argentina six months ago.

Practice

Quiz

Take this Quiz about the Preterite Tense:


Exercise 1

The following sentences express past actions that happened once or a stated number of times.

Fill the gaps conjugating the verbs in brackets in Preterite Tense. Click on the gray spaces to see the solutions.

All verbs in this exercise are completely regular:

1) Yo compré una revista ayer. (comprar)
I bought a magazine yesterday.

2) Marta ganó el partido de bádminton. (ganar)
Marta won the badminton match.

3) La semana pasada, tú saliste el viernes y el sábado. (salir)
Last week, you went out on Friday and Saturday.

4) Nosotros bailamos salsa cuatro veces el mes pasado. (bailar)
We danced salsa four times last month.

5) El año pasado, ellos corrieron en tres campeonatos de atletismo. (correr)
Last year, they ran in three track and field championships.

Exercise 2

The following sentences express past actions with a stated duration.

All verbs in this exercise are what we have called “almost-regular”:

1) Anoche, Ángela durmió solo cuatro horas. (dormir)
Last night, Angela slept only four hours.

2) Yo dormí ocho horas. (dormir)
I slept eight hours.

3) Los alumnos leyeron toda la tarde. (leer)
The students read all afternoon.

4) El paciente sintió dolor durante varias horas. (sentir)
The patient felt pain for several hours.

Exercise 3

These sentences express past actions about beginnings and endings:

1) Ayer, yo empecé a trabajar a las nueve. (empezar)
Yesterday, I started work at nine o’clock.

2) Lidia terminó de trabajar a las cinco. (terminar)
Lidia finished work at five.

3) Los festejos comenzaron el viernes. (comenzar)
The festivities started on Friday.

4) Vosotros acabasteis las tareas por la noche. (acabar)
You guys finished your homework in the evening.

Exercise 4

Finally, here we have several chains of events, one after another.

1) Anteayer, nosotras comimos en un restaurante italiano. Luego fuimos al cine y vimos una película. (comer, ir, ver)
The day before yesterday, we ate at an Italian restaurant. Then we went to the movies and watched a film.

2) Ana llegó al hotel y puso su maleta junto a la cama. A continuación llamó a su novio y le dijo que la habitación era muy bonita. (llegar, poner, llamar, decir)
Ana arrived at the hotel and put her suitcase next to the bed. Then she called her boyfriend and told him that the room was very nice.

3) Mi hermano vino a mi casa. Él y yo jugamos a la consola, y luego hicimos una comida muy rica. (venir, jugar, hacer)
My brother came to my house. He and I played console games, and then we made a really tasty meal.

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