The Spanish preterite: completed past actions
Vocalyra teaching team · Last updated:
The preterite is the Spanish tense for finished past events: yesterday I called, last week we ate out. Regular verbs follow two small sets of endings, and the written accents are part of the meaning.
The -ar endings
Take hablar: hablé, hablaste, habló, hablamos, hablasteis, hablaron. Notice the stress falls on the ending in yo and él: hablé, habló. Without the accent, hablo is the present tense, so the accent mark is not decoration; it changes the tense.
The -er and -ir endings
Comer and vivir share one set: comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis, comieron, and viví, viviste, vivió, vivimos, vivisteis, vivieron. The nosotros form of -ir verbs (vivimos) looks identical in present and preterite; context decides. Spelling changes appear in verbs like llegar (llegué), buscar (busqué) and empezar (empecé) in the yo form only.
| Person | -ar (hablar) | -er/-ir (comer, vivir) |
|---|---|---|
| yo | hablé | comí, viví |
| tú | hablaste | comiste, viviste |
| él, ella, usted | habló | comió, vivió |
| nosotros | hablamos | comimos, vivimos |
| vosotros | hablasteis | comisteis, vivisteis |
| ellos, ustedes | hablaron | comieron, vivieron |
When to use the preterite
Use it for single completed events, actions with a clear start or end, and sequences: llegué, vi y salí (I arrived, I saw and I left). Time words like ayer, anoche, la semana pasada and de repente pull toward the preterite. Background descriptions and ongoing states belong to the imperfect instead, which is a separate tense.
A handful of very common verbs are irregular and must be learned early, because they appear in every story: fui (ser and ir share the same forms), hice, dijo, vino, estuvo, tuvo, pudo, puso, supo, quiso and trajo. Notice none of them carry accent marks. A good drill is to retell your yesterday in five sentences using only regular verbs, then repeat it swapping in two irregulars. Pay attention to the nosotros trap: hablamos can be present or preterite, so time words like ayer do the disambiguating work in real sentences.
Quick self-check
Conjugate: ayer yo (hablar) con Ana.
Show answer
hablé
Conjugate: ellos (comer) tarde anoche.
Show answer
comieron
Choose: (Hablo / Habló) con el médico ayer. (él)
Show answer
Habló
Conjugate: nosotros (vivir) en Lima en 2019.
Show answer
vivimos