Spanish Grammar

Pronunciation & Accents
Gender & Def./Indef. Articles Subject Pronouns
The Verb Ser
Plural Nouns & Adjectives
The Calendar
Cardinal & Ordinal Numbers
Telling Time

Hay
Verbs - The Present Tense
The Verb Ir
The Verb Tener
The Verb Estar
Ser vs. Estar
Possessive Adjectives
Possessive Pronouns

Stem-Changing Verbs
Object Pronouns
The Verb Gustar
The Weather

Reflexive Verbs
Por vs. Para
Demonstratives
The Verb Acabar de
The Verb Volver a
The Past Tense - Pretérito Prepositions
Informal Commands

The Past Tense - Imperfecto
Preterit vs. Imperfect
Past Participles
Present Perfect Tense
Past Perfect Tense
The Subjunctive
Formal Commands
The Future Tense
The Conditional Tense

El Pretérito (Preterit) - The Past Tense

This learn Spanish grammar lesson is about expressing yourself in the past tense. In Spanish, there are two ways to express the past tense - the preterit (pretérito) and the imperfect (imperfecto). This learn Spanish grammar lesson will focus on the preterit, how to conjugate Spanish verbs (regular and irregular) in the preterit and the rules governing when to use it.

1) Regular Forms

In Spanish, the preterit is used to describe events and actions that took place and were completed in the past within a specific time frame:

For example: yesterday, last week, last year, etc.

Conjugating ar verbs (tomar) and er / ir verbs (comer / vivir)

Verbs ending in car, gar, and zar have a spelling change in the Yo form of the preterit in order to preserve the sound of the stem.

The verbs leer (to read) and oir (to hear) have a change in the third person singular and plural endings. The i changes to y.

2) Irregulares Verbs: Dar, Ser and Ir

Dar

In the preterit, the verb dar is an ar verb that uses ir endings with no accents.

Ser and Ir

In the preterit, the verbs Ser (to be) and Ir (to go) are conjugated the same. They have identical, but irregular endings.

There are many expressions to describe when something occurred in the past and triggers the use of the preterite. Here are some examples:

3) Stem Changing Verbs in the Preterit

Only ir verbs are stem-changing verbs in the Preterit.

Here are some stem-changing ir verbs:

Note: This group of verbs change from o > u and e > i only in the third person singular (él/ella/Ud) and plural (ellos/ ellas/Ustedes)

4) More Irregular Verbs in Preterit

Besides Ser, Ir and Dar, there are some other irregular verbs in the preterit.

This list of verbs share similarities between them.

With the exception of the third person plural (ellos/ellas/Uds) of verb traer, and decir (-jeron)and the third person singular of hacer (c > z) the rest of the irregular verbs all have the same endings.

5) Changing Meaning in the Preterit

Some irregular verbs in the preterit change meaning:

For example, the verbs: poder, querer, tener and saber.