Spanish Preterite Tense Notes

Spanish Preterite and Imperfect Tenses

These notes cover the preterite and imperfect tenses in Spanish, which are used to describe actions that occurred in the past.

Uses of Preterite

The preterite tense is used for actions that:

  • Happened at a specific moment in the past.
    • Example: Brady no hizo su tarea anoche. (Brady did not do his homework last night.)
  • Interrupted an ongoing action.
    • Example: Chloe y Caleb estaban peleando cuando su madre llegó a casa. (Chloe and Caleb were fighting when their mother arrived home.)

Preterite Conjugations

Regular Verbs

The preterite tense has regular conjugations for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs.

-ar verbs

Example verb: comprar (to buy)

  • Yo: compré (I bought)
  • Tú: compraste
  • Ud./Él/Ella: compró
  • Nosotros/as: compramos
  • Vosotros/as: comprasteis
  • Uds./Ellos/Ellas: compraron
-er verbs

Example verb: vender (to sell)

  • Yo: vendí (I sold)
  • Tú: vendiste
  • Ud./Él/Ella: vendió
  • Nosotros/as: vendimos
  • Vosotros/as: vendisteis
  • Uds./Ellos/Ellas: vendieron
-ir verbs

Example verb: escribir (to write)

  • Yo: escribí (I wrote)
  • Tú: escribiste
  • Ud./Él/Ella: escribió
  • Nosotros/as: escribimos
  • Vosotros/as: escribisteis
  • Uds./Ellos/Ellas: escribieron

Note: Yo, Ud. / Él/Ella forms have accent marks on the last vowel

-car, -gar, -zar verbs

These verbs have a spelling change in the "yo" form in the preterite.

  • -car --> -qué
  • -gar --> -gué
  • -zar --> -cé

Preterite Time Markers

The following expressions are often used with the preterite tense to indicate when the action took place:

  • anoche: last night
  • ayer: yesterday
  • el año pasado: last year
  • la semana pasada: last week
  • una vez: one time
  • dos veces: two times
  • ya: already
  • acabar de + infinitive: to have just (done something) - past tense