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Spanish Grammar in Context

A reference grammar with video examples from the Spanish in Texas collection

  • Credits
  • Index
  • About
  • Home
  • Adjectives
    • Introduction to Adjectives
    • Adjectives – Formation and Placement
    • Comparisons and Superlatives with Adjectives
    • Past Participles as Adjectives
    • Todo
    • Indefinite Adjectives
    • Adjectives Practice
  • Adverbs
    • Introduction to Adverbs
    • Adverbs – Formation and Placement
    • Comparative Adverbs
    • Adverbs Practice
  • Conjunctions
    • Introduction to Conjunctions
    • Coordinating Conjunctions
    • Subordinating Conjunctions
    • Conjunctions Practice
  • Determiners
    • Introduction to Determiners
    • Definite Articles
    • Indefinite Articles
    • Possessive Determiners
    • Demonstrative Determiners
    • Expressions of Quantity
    • Determiners Practice
  • Negation
    • Introduction to Negation
    • Basic Negation: No
    • Alternate Forms of Negation
    • One-word Negative Sentences
    • Negation Practice
  • Nouns
    • Introduction to Nouns
    • Nouns – Number
    • Nouns – Gender
    • Nouns Practice
  • Prepositions
    • Introduction to Prepositions
    • Common Prepositions
    • Por vs. Para
    • Prepositions Practice
  • Pronouns
    • Introduction to Pronouns
    • Subject Pronouns
    • Direct Object Pronouns
    • Indirect Object Pronouns
    • Reflexive Pronouns
    • Order of Object Pronouns
    • Relative Pronouns
    • Indefinite Pronouns
    • Demonstrative Pronouns
    • Possessive Pronouns
    • Pronouns Practice
  • Verbs
    • Introduction to Verbs
    • Tense/Mood
    • Introduction to Present Tense
      • -ar Verbs (Regular) Present Tense
      • -er Verbs (Regular) Present Tense
      • -ir Verbs (Regular) Present Tense
    • Ser “To Be”
    • Haber “To Have”
    • Reflexive Verbs
    • Preterit
    • Present Perfect
    • Imperfect
    • Narration: Preterit vs. Imperfect
    • Pluperfect
    • Future
    • Conditional
    • Past Conditional
    • Imperative Mood (commands)
    • Introduction to Subjunctive
      • Subjunctive – Present
      • Subjunctive – Past or Imperfect
      • Subjunctive – Present Perfect
      • Subjunctive – Pluperfect
      • Tense Sequences
    • Si Clauses (If Clauses)
    • Indirect Speech
      • Indirect Speech – Present
      • Indirect Speech – Past
    • Passive Voice
    • Language Contact
    • Verbs Practice
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    Practice quizzes: verbs

    Preterit

    Preterit

    Preterit forms from the Spanish in Texas Corpus

    The preterit (pretérito) is one of the two simple past tenses in Spanish. It is used for completed actions in the past. One of challenging aspect of the preterit tense is its larger number of irregular conjugations.

    Conjugation

    We can divide conjugations into 4 categories:  regulars, stem changers, spelling changers, and strong preterits.

    Regular Endings

    Regular -ar verbs:

    hablar  to speak
    yo hablé nosotros/as hablamos
    tú hablaste  
    él/ella/usted habló ellos/as/ustedes hablaron

    Regular -er and -ir verbs:

    comer  to eat
    yo comí nosotros/as comimos
    tú comiste  
    él/ella/usted comió ellos/as/ustedes comieron
    Y después de quince años los llevé de vuelta a una reunión familiar en los Andes.
    And after 15 years I brought them back to a family reunion in the Andes.

    Stem Changers

    There are three rules to know about stem changing in the preterit tense.

    1.  Only -ir verbs stem change; -ar and -er present tense stem changers maintain their original stem in the preterit

    acostar: acosté, acostaste, acostó, acostamos, acostaron

    1. Only the third person singular and plural stem change (el/ella/usted and ellos/ellas/ustedes)

    pedir: pedí, pediste, pidió, pedimos, pidieron

    1. Stem changers go from e to i, or from o to u,regardless of their vowel change in present tense

    dormir:  dormí, dormiste, durmió, dormimos, durmieron

    Todos los días para mí son bonitos, inclusive cuando murió mi papá y murió mi mamá yo sentía felicidad porque ya estaban con Dios.
    Every day for me is beautiful, even when my dad died and my mom died, I felt happiness because I knew they were with God.

    Spelling Changers

    Some verbs change their spelling in the yo form to maintain their sound: –CAR, –GAR, -ZAR

    In the yo form,

    • -car verbs: c –> qu

    tocar, yo toqué

    • -gar verbs: g –> gu

    jugar, yo jugué

    • -zar verbs: z –> c

    comenzar, yo comencé

    Yo comencé prácticamente de cero.
    I started practically from zero.

    Strong Preterits

    Completely irregular verbs in the preterit are also called strong preterits. They can be grouped by the letters they use to aid in memorization.

    I Group V Group
    • hacer: hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicieron
    • querer: quise, quisiste, quiso, quisimos, quisieron
    • venir: vine, viniste, vino, vinimos, vinieron
    • andar: anduve, anduviste, anduvo, anduvimos, anduvieron
    • estar: estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvieron
    • tener: tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvieron
    J Group U Group
    • decir: dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijeron
    • producir: produje, produjiste, produjo, produjimos, produjeron
    • traducir: traduje, tradujiste, tradujo, tradujimos, tradujeron 
    • conducir: conduje, condujiste, condujo, condujimos, condujeron
    • traer: traje, trajiste, trajo, trajimos, trajeron
    • caber: cupe, cupiste, cupo, cupimos, cupieron
    • haber: hubo
    • poder: pude, pudiste, pudo, pudimos, pudieron
    • poner: puse, pusiste, puso, pusimos, pusieron
    • saber: supe, supiste, supo, supimos, supieron 

    Others:

    • Ser: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron
    • Ir: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron
    • Dar: di, diste, dio, dimos, dieron
    • Ver: vi, viste, vio, vimos, vieron
    El dieciséis de septiembre fue una gran celebración en México porque es el día de la independencia.
    September 16th was a great celebration in Mexico because it is Independence Day.
    Me dijeron que tenía que acabar high school.
    They told me that I had to finish high school.

    Y eso es lo que hice, trabajé un año y medio.
    And that is what I did, I worked for one year and a half.

    For more information about the uses of the preterit and comparisons with the imperfect see also the page about narration.

    Some Spanish speakers add an –s to the tú form in the preterite, as seen in the example below. Although this form of tú is not considered correct according to traditional grammars, it is found across Latin America and is seen as a hypercorrection as tú forms in all other tenses end in –s (ex. caminar: caminas, caminabas, caminarás, caminarías, etc.). 

    Hemos ido a Sudamérica, a Argentina a tirar palomas.  Era horrible que cuantos matamos.  Tenían un club si matastes mil palomas te pusieron en en la tabla en el comedor. We’ve gone to South America, to Argentina, to shoot pigeons. It was horrible how many we killed. They had a club, if you killed a thousand pigeons they put you on the board in the dining hall. 

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