The Preterite Tense

The preterite (el pretérito) is the main past tense for completed actions — things that happened and finished at a definite point in time. If you can pin the action to a moment (yesterday, last week, at three o'clock), you use the preterite.

• Ayer fui al cine. — Yesterday I went to the cinema.
• Comí una pizza anoche. — I ate a pizza last night.
• Visitamos Madrid el año pasado. — We visited Madrid last year.

It contrasts with the imperfect, which describes what used to happen or what was happening. The preterite is a finished, one-off event; the imperfect is background or habit.

Typical time markers that signal the preterite:

Spanish	English
ayer	yesterday
anoche	last night
la semana pasada	last week
el año pasado	last year
de repente	suddenly

Remove the -ar and add the preterite endings. Note the accents on the yo and él/ella forms — they carry the stress and are easy to lose.

Person	ending	hablar →	comprar →
yo	-é	hablé	compré
tú	-aste	hablaste	compraste
él/ella/usted	-ó	habló	compró
nosotros/as	-amos	hablamos	compramos
vosotros/as	-asteis	hablasteis	comprasteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	-aron	hablaron	compraron

Worked examples:

• Hablé con mi profesor. — I spoke with my teacher.
• Compró un regalo. — He bought a present.
• Bailaron toda la noche. — They danced all night.

The nosotros form hablamos looks the same as the present tense. Context (a past time marker) tells you which tense is meant.

The -er and -ir families share one set of endings in the preterite, which makes them easy to learn together.

Person	ending	comer →	vivir →
yo	-í	comí	viví
tú	-iste	comiste	viviste
él/ella/usted	-ió	comió	vivió
nosotros/as	-imos	comimos	vivimos
vosotros/as	-isteis	comisteis	vivisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	-ieron	comieron	vivieron

Worked examples:

• Comí en un restaurante. — I ate in a restaurant.
• ¿Escribiste la carta? — Did you write the letter?
• Salieron a las nueve. — They left at nine.

The accents on comí and comió are essential. Como (no accent) is present tense "I eat"; comió (with accent) is preterite "he ate".

Some -ar verbs change their spelling only in the yo form so the consonant keeps its original sound. This affects verbs ending in -car, -gar and -zar.

Infinitive	Change	yo form	Rest is regular
buscar (to look for)	c → qu	busqué	buscaste, buscó...
sacar (to take out)	c → qu	saqué	sacaste, sacó...
llegar (to arrive)	g → gu	llegué	llegaste, llegó...
jugar (to play)	g → gu	jugué	jugaste, jugó...
empezar (to begin)	z → c	empecé	empezaste, empezó...
cruzar (to cross)	z → c	crucé	cruzaste, cruzó...

Worked examples:

• Llegué tarde al colegio. — I arrived late to school.
• Empecé mis deberes. — I started my homework.
• Busqué mi teléfono. — I looked for my phone.

Only the yo form changes. Every other person keeps the normal spelling: llegué but llegaste, llegó, llegamos.

A group of very common verbs has an irregular stem and takes a special set of endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron — with no accents on the yo and él/ella forms.

Infinitive	Stem	yo	él/ella
tener (to have)	tuv-	tuve	tuvo
estar (to be)	estuv-	estuve	estuvo
poder (to be able)	pud-	pude	pudo
poner (to put)	pus-	puse	puso
hacer (to do/make)	hic-	hice	hizo
venir (to come)	vin-	vine	vino
querer (to want)	quis-	quise	quiso

Full example — tener: tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron.

Note hacer: the él/ella form is hizo (with a z) to keep the soft sound.

Verbs whose stem ends in -j (like decir → dij- and traer → traj-) drop the i in the ellos ending: dijeron, trajeron (not dijieron).

Worked examples:

• Tuve que estudiar. — I had to study.
• Hizo mucho calor. — It was very hot.
• No pudimos ir. — We couldn't go.

Three high-frequency verbs are irregular in their own way.

ser and ir share the identical preterite — context tells them apart:

Person	ser / ir
yo	fui
tú	fuiste
él/ella/usted	fue
nosotros/as	fuimos
vosotros/as	fuisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	fueron

Fui al parque = I went (ir); La película fue buena = The film was good (ser).

dar takes -er/-ir endings with no accents: di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron.

Third-person stem changes: -ir stem-changing verbs change their vowel (e→i, o→u) in the él/ella and ellos forms only:

Infinitive	él/ella	ellos/ellas
pedir (to ask for)	pidió	pidieron
dormir (to sleep)	durmió	durmieron
preferir (to prefer)	prefirió	prefirieron

Worked examples:

• Me dio un regalo. — He gave me a present.
• Pidió una limonada. — She ordered a lemonade.
• Los niños durmieron bien. — The children slept well.

1. Dropping the accents on regular verbs

Hable and hablo are not the past tense. You need hablé (I spoke) and habló (he spoke). The accent carries the meaning and is often what the mark scheme looks for.

2. Adding accents to irregular preterites

Irregular verbs like tener and hacer take no accent in the yo and él/ella forms: tuve and tuvo, never tuvé or tuvó. This is the opposite of the regular pattern.

3. Forgetting the yo spelling change

Llegar becomes llegué, not llegé; empezar becomes empecé, not empezé. The change keeps the hard "g" and soft "c" sounds.

4. Writing hació instead of hizo

Hacer is irregular: the él/ella form is hizo, with a z. Hació does not exist.

5. Confusing preterite and imperfect

The preterite is a finished, one-off action (ayer comí paella). The imperfect is a habit or ongoing background (de niño comía paella cada domingo). Choosing the wrong past tense changes the meaning.