Preterito

Aprender el Pretérito

The pretérito is the Spanish simple past tense, used to talk about things that were completed in the past.

Compré una chaqueta.	I bought a jacket.
Comimos a las ocho.	We ate at 8.
Fueron al banco.	They went to the bank.
¿Hiciste tu tarea?	Did you do your homework?

AR Verbs: Preterite Tense

For the Spanish Preterite Tense of the 'AR' family of Spanish verbs, the ‘-AR’ words take the STEM and add some new endings. (Remember the Stem of the Spanish verb is that bit before the –AR, ER or –IR ending so the stem of the Spanish verb hablar (to talk) is the 'habl-' part, the stem of the Spanish verb comer (to eat) is the 'com-' part)

STEM +

yo	-é
tú	-aste
élél /ella/ usted	-ó
nosotros	-amos
vosotros	-asteis
ellos/ llas/ustedes	-aron

-AR verb example:

Hablar - to talk
yo	hablé	nosotros	hablamos
tú	hablaste	vosotros	hablasteis
él	habló	ellos	hablaron

Here are some of the many -AR verbs that you will soon be able to conjugate:

amar	to love	llamar	to call
ayudar	to help	llevar	to take, to wear
bailar	to dance	mandar	to order
cambiar	to change	mirar	to watch, to look
cantar	to sing	montar	to climb
dejar	to leave	nadar	to swim
entrar	to enter	olvidar	to forget
esperar	to wish, to hope	pagar	to pay
expresar	to express	parar	to stop
funcionar	to function	preparar	to prepare
ganar	to win, to earn	quedar	to stay
gastar	to spend, to waste	tirar	to pull, to draw
hablar	to speak	tomar	to take, to drink
lavar	to wash	trabajar	to work
limpiar	to clean	viajar	to travel

ER and IR Verbs: Preterite Tense

For the Spanish Preterite Tense of the 'ER' and 'IR' families of Spanish verbs, the ‘-ER’and '-IR' words take the STEM and add some new endings. Keep in mind that the ending patterns are different in the Spanish preterite tense for ER and IR verbs when compared to AR verbs.

STEM +

yo	-í
tú	-iste
él /ella/ usted	-ió
nosotros	-imos
vosotros	-isteis
ellos/ llas/ustedes	-ieron

-ER verb example:

Comer - to eat
yo	comí	nosotros	comimos
tú	comiste	vosotros	comisteis
él	comió	ellos	comieron

-IR verb example:

Vivir - to live
yo	viví	nosotros	vivimos
tú	viviste	vosotros	vivisteis
él	vivió	ellos	vivieron

Irregular Verbs: Preterite Tense

Of course, there are always irregular forms. These irregular forms in the preterite are said to have "radical" changes. This means there are vowel and consonant changes in the root (or stem of the verb) that causes a change to occur in all of the conjugations (including the nosotros form). These changes are not for spelling reasons (like the verbs ending in -car, -gar, and -zar) nor are the changes in the vowels similar to the regular stem-changing verbs which affect certain -IR conjugations in the preterite. Verbs which have an irregular preterite form have their own conjugation-- different from the established -AR, -ER/-IR Preterite conjugation pattern. Take note that none of the irregular forms have accents, unlike the regulars.

Irregular Verbs in the Spanish Preterite Tense

There are a number of verbs that are irregular in the Spanish preterite tense. Several follow the pattern of changing the stem but then adding the preterite tense endings:

Irregular verbs in the Spanish preterite tense that change their STEM

Irregular verbs in the Spanish preterite tense that change completely.

More irregular preterite tense words – CAR-GAR-ZAR

Verbs with Two Unstressed Vowels: Irregular in the Preterite tense

Verbs with two vowels together that are not stressed have a change of spelling for the third person case in the singular (él, ella, Usted) and the plural (ellos, ellas, Ustedes).