Spanish/Preterite

../Verbs/

The preterite verb form describes past actions that have begun or completed. The preterite sets something in the past as an event, with a beginning and an end. Spanish has another past tense form, the imperfect, that is used for past actions that are continuing, or for which its beginning or its end is not important.

Conjugate regular verbs in the preterite
-AR verbs

Eliminate the "-ar" and replace it with one of the following endings:

-é -aste -ó -amos -asteis -aron

Patinar (to skate) becomes:

patiné: I skated patinaste: you skated patinó: he skated patinamos: we skated patinasteis: you skated patinaron: they skated

Notice that the "nosotros" form conjugates the same as it does in the present tense. This can cause confusion so look for context tools to make sure you have the right tense.

-ER and -IR verbs

Eliminate the "-er" or "-ir" and replace it with one of the following endings:

-í -iste -ió -imos -isteis -ieron

Vender (to sell) becomes:

vendí: I sold vendiste: you sold vendió: he sold vendimos: we sold vendisteis: you sold vendieron: they sold

Conjugate irregular verbs in the preterite
There are 2 types of irregular verbs in the preterite tense. We will start with the more regular of the 2. The endings of these irregulars are all the same, which is why I am referring to them as more regular. The endings are: -e -iste -o -imos -isteis -ieron The stems of these verbs also change as follows: estar --> estuv andar --> anduv tener --> tuv poder --> pud poner --> pus saber --> sup caber --> cup hacer --> hic (exception: 'hizo') venir --> vin querer --> quis decir --> dij traer --> traj and any verb that ends in -ducir --> -duj Note that for stems ending in j the ending 'ieron' is shortened to 'eron' The more irregular verbs conjugate as follows: "Ir" and "Ser" fui fuiste fue fuimos fuisteis fueron

"Dar" di diste dio dimos disteis dieron

"Haber" hube hubiste hubo hubimos hubisteis hubieron

"Reír" reí reíste rió reímos reísteis rieron

"Leer" (similarly Creer) leí leíste leyó leímos leísteis leyeron

"Dormir" (similarly Morir) dormí dormiste durm ió dormimos dormisteis durm ieron

"Ver" v i viste v io vimos visteis vieron