The Preterite Tense

Preterite

To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following:

é
aste
ó
amos
asteis
aron

To conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-er or -ir) and add one of the following:

í
iste
ió
imos
isteis
ieron

Here are all three regular preterite verb forms together:

hablar	comer	vivir
hablé	comí	viví
hablaste	comiste	viviste
habló	comió	vivió
hablamos	comimos	vivimos
hablasteis	comisteis	vivisteis
hablaron	comieron	vivieron

Note: the nosotros forms for -ar and -ir verbs are the same in both preterite and present tenses: hablamos, vivimos.

The preterite is used for actions that can be viewed as single events.

Ella caminó por el parque.
She walked through the park.

Ellos llegaron a las ocho.
They arrived at eight o'clock.

The preterite is used for actions that were repeated a specific number of times, or occurred during a specific period of time.

Ayer escribí tres cartas.
Yesterday I wrote three letters.

Vivimos allí por cuatro años.
We lived there for four years.

The preterite is used for actions that were part of a chain of events.

Ella se levantó, se vistió, y salió de la casa.
She got up, dressed, and left the house.

The preterite is used to state the beginning or the end of an action.

Empezó a nevar a las ocho de la mañana.
It began to snow at eight in the morning.

The above examples all fall within our general rule for using the preterite:

The preterite is used for past actions that are seen as completed.

Let's add two more flashcards for regular -er and -ir verbs in the preterite tense:

Verb Flashcards
Complete List

Preterite: regular -er

-í
-iste
-ió

-imos
-isteis

ieron

comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis, comieron

Preterite: regular -ir verbs

-í
-iste
-ió

-imos
-isteis

ieron

viví, viviste, vivió, vivimos, vivisteis, vivieron

• Print Page
• Email Page

A number of verbs that are irregular in the preterite follow a particular pattern. While their stems change, they all take the following endings:

-e
-iste
-o
-imos
-isteis
-ieron

Here are the verbs, along with their corresponding stem changes:

Here are two examples of how this pattern is applied:

Note: The one exception is the third person singular of hacer. As you learned in a previous lesson, the c changes to z to form "hizo."

Another card for this pattern of irregular preterites:

Verb Flashcards
Complete List

irregular preterite pattern: andar, estar, tener, caber, haber, poder, poner, saber, hacer, querer, venir

Infinitive	Stem Change	Endings
andar	anduv-	-e
estar	estuv-	-iste
tener	tuv-	-o
caber	cup-	-imos
haber	hub-	-isteis
poder	pud-	-ieron
poner	pus-
saber	sup-
hacer	hic-
querer	quis-
venir	vin-

Exception: hacer (el/ella/usted hizo)

Preterite Powerpoint of TOOLS!!!! (ppsx file)

Teacher Websites © 2009 SchoolWorld