The Spanish simple past
El pretérito indefinido (the Spanish simple past) is used to describe actions happened and concluded in the past (unlike the Spanish perfect tense) or to talk about a past action that interrupted another one (generally expressed by the Spanish imperfect tense).
The Spanish preterite tense is formed by taking the infinitive of verbs, removing the infinitive endings (-ar, -er, -ir) and then adding the preterite terminations.
PRETERITE of REGULAR VERBS
| comprar (to buy) | beber (to drink) | vivir (to live) |
| compré (I bought) | bebí (I drank) | viví (I lived) |
| compraste (you bought) | bebiste (you drank) | viviste (you lived) |
| compró (he/she bought) | bebió (he/she drank) | vivió (he/she lived) |
| compramos (we bought) | bebimos (we drank) | vivimos (we lived) |
| comprasteis (you lot bought) | bebisteis (you lot drank) | vivisteis (you lot lived) |
| compraron (they bought) | bebieron (they drank) | vivieron (they lived) |
As shown in the table, -er and -ir verbs adopt the same set of endings in the preterite tense. It is crucial to highlight that graphic accents on preterite terminations are mandatory as neglecting them might generate confusion with other tenses [e.g.: hablo con mi madre (present tense: I talk with my mum) VS habló con mi madre (preterite: he/she talked with my mum)].
Here are some examples:
Ayer Marta y tú perdisteis el tren. → Yesterday Marta and you lost the train.
La película comenzó con una hora de retraso. → The movie started an hour late.
Luis Sepúlveda nacío en 1949. → Luis Sepúlveda was born in 1949.
Stem-changing verbs seen in the present do not feature a stem change in the preterite; nonetheless, a significant number of high-frequency verbs happens to present an irregular verb stem.
Here is a list of the most common ones.
PRETERITE of IRREGULAR VERBS
| Verb | Conjugation |
| caber (to fit) | cupe, cupiste, cupo, cupimos, cupisteis, cupieron |
| dar (to give) | di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron |
| decir (to tell) | dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron |
| estar [to be (for location/action)] | estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvisteis, estuvieron |
| haber [to have (for compound tenses) / there be] | hube, hubiste, hubo, hubimos, hubisteis, hubieron |
| hacer (to do/make) | hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron |
| poder (to can) | pude, pudiste, pudo, pudimos, pudisteis, pudieron |
| poner (to put) | puse, pusiste, puso, pusimos, pusisteis, pusieron |
| querer (to want) | quise, quisiste, quiso, quisimos, quisisteis, quisieron |
| saber (to know) | supe, supiste, supo, supimos, supisteis, supieron |
| tener (to have) | tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron |
| venir (to come) | vine, viniste, vino, vinimos, vinisteis, vinieron |
| ver (to see) | vi, viste, vio, vimos, visteis, vieron |
Let’s look at some examples:
Los hermanos de Carlos estuvieron enfermos anteayer. → Carlos’s brothers were sick two days ago.
Ayer no pudiste ir al cine porque vino tu prima. → Yesterday you couldn’t go to the cinema because your cousin came.
¿Quién puso mis gafas en la nevera? → Who put my glasses in the fridge?
Singularly, ser (to be for descriptions) and ir (to go) share the same irregular preterite conjugation due to their latin origin.
| PRETERITE of SER and IR | English |
| fui | I was – I went |
| fuiste | you were – you went |
| fue | he/she was – he/she went |
| fuimos | we were – we went |
| fuisteis | you lot were – you lot went |
| fueron | they were – they went |
Here are some examples:
María fue a casa de sus padres la semana pasada. → María went to her parents’ last week.
De joven fue alpinista. → When he was young he was a climber.
El verano pasado fuimos a Málaga con unos amigos y fuimos los primeros en llegar al hotel. → Last summer we went to Malaga with some friends and we were the first to arrive at the hotel.
Finally, since the preterite expresses completed past actions, certain time phrases referring to the past are used to introduce this tense.
TIME PHRASES with the PRETERITE
| Spanish | English |
| ayer | yesterday |
| anteayer | the day before yesterday (two days ago) |
| anoche | yesterday night |
| la semana pasada | last week |
| el fin de semana (finde)/mes/año | last weekend / month / year |
| el verano pasado | last summer |
| en enero/febrero/marzo… | in January / February / March… |
| hace un año/día/mes | a year / a day / a month ago |
| hace dos/tres/cuatro años/meses | two / three / four years / months ago |
| cuando + imperfect tense | when + past continous |
| el 7 de mayo | on the 7th of May |
Let’s look at some examples:
Ayer Marcos y yo pintamos nuestro cuarto. → Yesterday Marcos and I painted our bedroom.
Hace tres años gané una competición de atletismo. → Three years ago I won an athletics competition.
Anoche los niños se acostaron muy tarde. → Yesterday night the kids went to bed very late.
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