The preterite tense in Spanish is used to discuss actions in the past that are viewed as completed, over or accomplished.
Regular verbs – To conjugate past tense regular verbs, drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add the following endings.
-ar |
-er |
-ir |
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comprar – (to buy) | vender – (to sell) | vivir – (to live) | |||
compr é | compr amos | vend í | vend imos | viv í | viv imos |
compr aste | compr asteis | vend iste | vend isteis | viv iste | viv isteis |
compr ó | compr aron | vend ió | vend ieron | viv ió | viv ieron |
Stem changing verbs – Present tense stem changers do not undergo the same changes in the preterite. Only -ir verbs have stem changes in the Ud., Uds., él, ella, ellos and ellas form.
e > i |
o > u |
||
pedir – (to ask for) | dormir – (to sleep) | ||
pedí | pedimos | dormí | dormimos |
pediste | pedisteis | dormiste | dormisteis |
pidió | pidieron | durmió | durmieron |
– e > i – conseguir (to get), divertirse (to have fun), mentir (to lie), pedir (to ask for), preferir (to prefer), repetir (to repeat), seguir (to follow / continue), servir (to serve)
– o > u – dormir (to sleep), morir (to die)
Irregular third-person form verbs – Verbs that have a vowel before the -er and -ir infinitive endings change from -ió and -ieron to -yó and –yeron. The other endings stay the same.
-er |
-ir |
||
creer (to believe) | oír (to hear) | ||
creí | creímos | oí | oímos |
creíste | creísteis | oíste | oísteis |
creyó | creyeron | oyó | oyeron |
– caer (to fall), creer (to believe), leer (to read), oír (to hear), huir (to flee), incluir (to include), construir (to construct), atribuir (to attribute)
Irregular stems – the following verbs’ stems change in the preterite tense. Note that the endings also differ from the regular preterite endings.
andar | anduv- | anduve, anduviste, anduvo, anduvimos, anduvisteis, anduvieron |
caber | cup- | cupe, cupiste, cupo, cupimos, cupisteis, cupieron |
estar | estuv- | estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvisteis, estuvieron |
decir | dij- | dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron |
hacer | hic- | hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron |
poder | pud- | pude, pudiste, pudo, pudimos, pudisteis, pudieron |
poner | pus- | puse, pusiste, puso, pusimos, pusisteis, pusieron |
saber | sup- | supe, supiste, supo, supimos, supisteis, supieron |
tener | tuv- | tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron |
traer | traj- | traje, trajiste, trajo, trajimos, trajisteis, trajeron |
querer | quis- | quise, quisiste, quiso, quisimos, quisisteis, quisieron |
venir | vin- | vine, viniste, vino, vinimos, vinisteis, vinieron |
Irregular verbs – the following verbs are irregular in the preterite and do not follow any other pattern. Note that ser and ir are the same in the preterite.
ser |
ir |
dar |
ver |
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fui | fuimos | fui | fuimos | di | dimos | vi | vimos |
fuiste | fuisteis | fuiste | fuisteis | diste | disteis | viste | visteis |
fue | fueron | fue | fueron | dio | dieron | vio | vieron |
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