Spanish Preterite
The preterite is the past tense for events with a fixed beginning and end. (yesterday I went to the cinema) - one event, one time, completed.
Regular endings
The -ar verbs use one set; -er and -ir verbs share another.
-ar verbs ():
| Person | Ending | hablar |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -é | |
| -aste | ||
| / / | -ó | |
| - | ||
| -asteis | ||
| / / | -aron |
-er / - verbs (, ):
| Person | Ending | comer | vivir |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -í | ||
| -iste | |||
| / / | -ió | ||
| -imos | |||
| -isteis | |||
| / / | -ieron |
The yo and 3rd-person-singular forms carry mandatory written accents (, , , , , ). Dropping the accent changes the meaning or breaks the form.
Note: the nosotros forms (, ) are identical to the present tense for -ar and -ir verbs. Context disambiguates: (present), con María (preterite).
The big irregular group
About a dozen high-frequency verbs share an irregular stem in the preterite, plus a single shared set of endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron (or -eron after a -j stem). Note that the yo and 3rd-singular forms carry no written accent - this is the marker of the irregular group.
| Verb | Stem | Yo form |
|---|---|---|
| tuv- | ||
| pud- | ||
| hic- | ||
| vin- | ||
| estuv- | ||
| pus- | ||
| quis- | ||
| sup- | ||
| hub- | ||
| anduv- | ||
| dij- | ||
| traj- |
Full conjugation of as the model:
| Person | tener |
|---|---|
| yo | |
| / / | |
| / / |
and end in -j and take -eron instead of -ieron in the 3rd plural: , (not "dijieron", "trajieron").
has one spelling shift: in the 3rd singular, (not "hico") to preserve the soft c sound.
ir and ser: identical forms
(to go) and (to be) share the same preterite conjugation. Context disambiguates.
| Person | ir / ser |
|---|---|
| yo | |
| / / | |
| / / |
- . (I went to the cinema.) - ir
- . (He was my teacher.) - ser
dar
takes -er/-ir endings in the preterite despite being -ar. No accents.
| Person | dar |
|---|---|
| yo | |
| / / | |
| / / |
When to use it
The preterite is triggered by closed time markers and specific completed events.
- (yesterday) - ayer comí paella
- (last night) - anoche llegué tarde
- / (last week / year) - el año pasado fui a Madrid
- 2020 / - en 2020 estudié en Madrid
- + time (ago) - hace dos años trabajé en París
- / (one day / once)
- first / next / then / finally - primero, luego, después, finalmente
If the time frame is closed and the event is done, reach for the preterite. If the action was habitual or ongoing, the imperfect is the right call - see the preterite vs imperfect page.
Worked examples
- con . (Yesterday I went to the cinema with my friends.)
- París. (Last year I lived in Paris.)
- . (We talked for two hours last night.)
- . (I had to work on Saturday.)
- María . (Maria made dinner.)
- No llamarte . (I couldn't call you yesterday.)
- . (They told the truth.)
Common mistakes English speakers make
Forgetting the written accents on the yo and 3rd-singular forms of regular verbs: it's , not "hable" (which is subjunctive). Trying to regularise the irregular stems: tení instead of , instead of . Forgetting that decir and traer take -eron not -ieron: dijieron is wrong, it's . And mixing up preterite and imperfect for habitual past actions - that's the next page.
See also
- The imperfect page covers the other past tense.
- The preterite vs imperfect page covers the decision rules side by side.
- The intermediate Spanish grammar page covers the full past-tense system.