Kilo Lingo
Part of Chapter 9

CEFR A2-B1

Test yourself (25 questions)

Spanish Preterite

The preterite is the past tense for events with a fixed beginning and end. Ayer fui al cine (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 (hablar):

PersonEndinghablar
yo-éhablé
tú-astehablaste
él / ella / usted-óhabló
nosotros-amoshablamos
vosotros-asteishablasteis
ellos / ellas / ustedes-aronhablaron

-er / -ir verbs (comer, vivir):

PersonEndingcomervivir
yo-ícomíviví
tú-istecomisteviviste
él / ella / usted-iócomióvivió
nosotros-imoscomimosvivimos
vosotros-isteiscomisteisvivisteis
ellos / ellas / ustedes-ieroncomieronvivieron

The yo and 3rd-person-singular forms carry mandatory written accents (hablé, habló, comí, comió, viví, vivió). Dropping the accent changes the meaning or breaks the form.

Note: the nosotros forms (hablamos, vivimos) are identical to the present tense for -ar and -ir verbs. Context disambiguates: hablamos español todos los días (present), ayer hablamos 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.

VerbStemYo form
tenertuv-tuve
poderpud-pude
hacerhic-hice
venirvin-vine
estarestuv-estuve
ponerpus-puse
quererquis-quise
sabersup-supe
haberhub-hube
andaranduv-anduve
decirdij-dije
traertraj-traje

Full conjugation of tener as the model:

Persontener
yotuve
tútuviste
él / ella / ustedtuvo
nosotrostuvimos
vosotrostuvisteis
ellos / ellas / ustedestuvieron

Decir and traer end in -j and take -eron instead of -ieron in the 3rd plural: dijeron, trajeron (not "dijieron", "trajieron").

Hacer has one spelling shift: in the 3rd singular, hizo (not "hico") to preserve the soft c sound.

ir and ser: identical forms

Ir (to go) and ser (to be) share the same preterite conjugation. Context disambiguates.

Personir / ser
yofui
túfuiste
él / ella / ustedfue
nosotrosfuimos
vosotrosfuisteis
ellos / ellas / ustedesfueron
  • Fui al cine. (I went to the cinema.) - ir
  • Fue mi profesor. (He was my teacher.) - ser

dar

Dar takes -er/-ir endings in the preterite despite being -ar. No accents.

Persondar
yodi
túdiste
él / ella / usteddio
nosotrosdimos
vosotrosdisteis
ellos / ellas / ustedesdieron

When to use it

The preterite is triggered by closed time markers and specific completed events.

  • ayer (yesterday) - ayer comí paella
  • anoche (last night) - anoche llegué tarde
  • la semana pasada / el año pasado (last week / year) - el año pasado fui a Madrid
  • en 2020 / en mayo - en 2020 estudié en Madrid
  • hace + time (ago) - hace dos años trabajé en París
  • un día / una vez (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

  • Ayer fui al cine con mis amigos. (Yesterday I went to the cinema with my friends.)
  • El año pasado viví en París. (Last year I lived in Paris.)
  • Hablamos por dos horas anoche. (We talked for two hours last night.)
  • Tuve que trabajar el sábado. (I had to work on Saturday.)
  • María hizo la cena. (Maria made dinner.)
  • No pude llamarte ayer. (I couldn't call you yesterday.)
  • Dijeron la verdad. (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 hablé, not "hable" (which is subjunctive). Trying to regularise the irregular stems: tení instead of tuve, hací instead of hice. Forgetting that decir and traer take -eron not -ieron: dijieron is wrong, it's dijeron. And mixing up preterite and imperfect for habitual past actions - that's the next page.

See also

Practise: test yourself

Fill in the blank

0/9

Conjugate the verb in brackets into the preterite to match the subject.

  1. Ayer yo con María por dos horas. (hablar)

  2. Anoche nosotros paella. (comer)

  3. El año pasado ella en París. (vivir)

  4. Ayer yo a la ciudad con mis amigos. (ir, irregular)

  5. El sábado María la comida. (hacer, irregular)

  6. Anoche yo que trabajar. (tener, irregular)

  7. La semana pasada nosotros a Madrid. (ir, irregular)

  8. Ayer ellos la verdad. (decir, irregular -eron)

  9. El año pasado yo con María por dos horas. (hablar, regular)

Translation drill

0/8

Translate each sentence into Spanish using the preterite.

  1. Yesterday I went to the city.

  2. Last year we lived in Paris.

  3. I had to work on Saturday.

  4. They told the truth.

  5. Last night we ate at home.

  6. She made the food.

  7. I spoke with my friend yesterday.

  8. They went to the city last week.

Matching

0/8

Match each irregular infinitive on the left to its yo preterite form on the right.

Frequently asked questions

What are the preterite endings in Spanish?
Regular -ar verbs take -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron (hablé, hablaste, habló, hablamos, hablasteis, hablaron). Regular -er and -ir verbs share the same set: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron (comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis, comieron). The yo and él/ella/usted forms carry written accents on the final vowel for regular verbs (hablé, habló, comí, comió) - these are mandatory and distinguish the preterite from the present tense in some cases.
When do you use the preterite vs the imperfect?
Preterite = completed actions in a closed past, with a beginning and end. Imperfect = ongoing, habitual or background actions in the past, with no specified end. 'I ate paella yesterday' (one event, bounded) is comí paella ayer - preterite. 'I used to eat paella every Sunday' (habitual, no end) is comía paella todos los domingos - imperfect. The dedicated preterite-vs-imperfect page covers the decision rules in full.