The preterite tense
When it's used

The preterite is used for actions that can
be viewed as single events that occurred
in the past.

Ella caminó por el parque.
She walked through the park.
Ellos llegaron a las ocho.
They arrived at eight o'clock.
When it's used
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.
When it's used
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.

When it's used
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.

General rule for using the preterite:

The preterite is used for past actions
that are seen as completed.
How to form it

To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the
preterite, simply drop the ending (-ar)
and add one of the following:
habl é
habl amos
habl aste
habl ó
habl aron
Bonus Info

There are no stem-changing –ar verbs in
the preterite!
But, don’t get your hopes up too high. There are spelling
changers or orthographic changers.
-car, -gar, -zar





In order to preserve the sound of the infinitive, a
number of verbs change orthographically
(spelling) in the preterite tense. The following
changes occur in the "yo" form only:
Verbs that end in -gar change g to gu
Verbs that end in -car change c to qu
Verbs that end in -zar change z to c
yo jugué (jugar)
yo busqué (buscar)
yo almorcé (almorzar)
When it's used (repaso)
The preterite is used for actions that can
be viewed as single events that occurred
in the past.
 The preterite is used for actions that were
repeated a specific number of times, or
occurred during a specific period of time.
 The preterite is used for actions that were
part of a chain of events.
 The preterite is used to state the
beginning or the end of an action.

How to form it

To conjugate regular –er/ir verbs in the
preterite, simply drop the ending (-er/ir)
and add one of the following:
com
viv í
com
viv imos
com
viv iste
com
viv ió
com
viv ieron
Stemchanges
-ar and -er verbs that change their stem
in the present tense do not change in
the preterite. They are conjugated just
like other regular preterite verbs.
 -ir verbs that change their stem in the
present tense do change in the preterite,
but in a different way. They change e:i
and o:u in the third person, singular and
plural. These are sometimes called
“Sandal verbs”



Present
Present
preferir
prefiero
prefieres
prefiere
preferimos
preferís
prefieren
dormir
duermo
duermes
duerme
dormimos
dormís
duermen
Preterite
Preterite
preferir
preferí
preferiste
prefirió
preferimos
preferisteis
prefirieron
dormir
dormí
dormiste
durmió
dormimos
dormisteis
durmieron
preferí
preferimos
dormí
dormimos
preferiste
dormiste
prefirió
durmió
prefirieron
durmieron
Orthographic changes

For verbs that end in -aer, -eer, -oír, and
-oer, the él/ella/usted forms use the
ending "yó" (rather than ió) and the third
person plural uses the ending "yeron"
(rather than ieron). The remaining forms
gain a written accent over the letter "i."
Orthographic changes

leer
leí
leíste
leyó
leímos
leísteis
leyeron
Other verbs like leer include:
Caer (fall (down etc.; also caerse)
creer
oír (hear)
poseer(have; own, possess)
proveer (provide, supply)
roer (gnaw; nibble)
Exceptions to this rule include:
traer
atraer (attract; draw )
distraer (distract, divert, lead
someone away (de from))
Orthographic changes

Verbs that end in -uir change in the same
way, but the written accent over the letter
"i" only occurs in the yo form.
huir
huí
huiste
huyó
huimos
huisteis
huyeron
Other verbs like huir include:
construir
contribuir
destruir
fluir
incluir
influir

These four verbs are irregular; you must
memorize them:
Ser/Ir
dar
hacer
fui
fuiste
fue
fuimos
fuisteis
fueron
di
diste
dio
dimos
disteis
dieron
hice
hiciste
hizo
hicimos
hicisteis
hicieron