Severn Spanish

Regular verbs in the preterite I/II

 

What is the preterite?

The preterite is one of two past tenses in Spanish. The other is the imperfect. The reason there are two past tenses is because each is used in a unique way. We will focus for now on the preterite, which is used to talk about past events that took place at specific, definable times or over defined time periods. For more on the differences between these two tenses, see Preterite vs. Imperfect II.

Before moving on, make sure you are totally comfortable with the present tense. This is only the second "simple" tense you have learned, which means that it has totally new conjugation endings, unlike the compound tenses you have learned, which are based on the present tense.

 

Conjugation

The preterite is easier to learn, in terms of conjugation alone, than the present tense, because -er and -ir verbs share all conjugations. There is not one difference between them, which means that you only need to learn two sets of endings, rather than three. As an added bonus, when conjugating in the preterite, you use the same four-step conjugation process as you use in the present tense:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-ar verbs

 

 

 

 

 

-er/-ir verbs

 

 

 

 

 

Examples:

Yo (estudiar) anoche [last night]

Subject: yo

Verb and stem: estudiar → estudi-

Conjugation ending: -é

Final: Yo estudié anoche. (I studied last night.)

 

Tú (bailar) en la fiesta

Subject: tú

Verb and stem: bailar → bail-

Conjugation ending: -aste

Final: Tú bailaste en la fiesta.

 

Ustedes (vivir) en Madrid durante dos años

Subject: ustedes

Verb and stem: vivir →viv-

Conjugation ending: -ieron

Final: Ustedes vivieron en Madrid durante dos años. (You lived in Madrid for two years.)

 

Practice