Lets take a look at a few examples again, using the same verbs as last time. In other words, anytime you want to express the number of times that an action was performed, you will need to use the Spanish preterite tense. Grammar is easy to stress over and can take the fun out of language learning. If youre struggling with this topic, check my article on how to conjugate reflexive verbs. When it comes to talking about actions in the past, the preterite tense is one of the most common tenses that you need in Spanish. Whatever silly story or past action you decide to share, now you know the two most important ways to talk about them! For that reason, we also use this tense when talking about the frequency of an action. Finally, some small irregularities that you should keep in mind are with verbs that end with: With these types of verbs, the first person singular (Yo) will experience some changes in the preterite conjugation. This means that irregular verbs will experience some changes in their roots.
You can share how you began learning Spanish. For these cases, you want to use the Spanish imperfect tense. They combine with other verbs in the past or -ing tense to express something did happen or was happening.. Product reviews: Get our take on the resources for learning a language. In Spanish, the preterite is the equivalent of the English simple past tense. Spanish uses these forms too, but they combine with helping verbs to form them. Thus, it is used to: Since a lot of past actions have already been completed, preterite (or pretrito) is a very common tense that you need to understand. But aside from adding the right pronoun, you should follow the appropriate conjugation rules. The key is to make sure to pay attention to the accent marks. And that these focus on helping verbs. Here are some common time expressions that you can use when conjugating verbs in the preterite tense. This may seem confusing at first. In addition to these verbs, ser and ir are also irregular verbs in the preterite tense. The same is true for English we say things like I did it, I used to do it, I was doing it, I have done it, and I did do it. Weve learned that this tense can be used to: In addition to this, Ive provided with you some common time expressions that are used with the preterite tense and Ive also shown you how to conjugate verbs in the past tense. As a result, this tense is commonly used when talking about or referring to specific dates or amounts of time. Article list: All the articles written by Benny and other polyglots. 
Tell Me In Spanish (tellmeinspanish.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Benny believes the best approach to language learning is to speak from day one. I wish that last one werent true, but Ive locked myself out of my apartment and Airbnb lately! And the thing is, you dont really need to learn much grammar. Its usually used to describe habits or past actions that you used to do continually but have since stopped doing or were interrupted. You might notice in Spanish conversations that people might place the date or time before the conjugated verb. Take Note: Since it has a clear ending and starting point, preterite does not describe or refer to past habits or routines. Notice that the verb in preterite is always placed after the word cuando: [Cuando] + [verb conjugated in preterite], Cuando Andy lleg, la fiesta ya se haba acabadoWhen Andy arrived, the party had already finished, Ricky estaba trabajando cuando Amanda le llamRicky was working when Amanda called him, Mis amigos estaban cocinando cuando Mary se cort el dedoMy friends were cooking when Mary cut her finger. In order to build these kinds of sentences, you can follow this phrase structure. Need an easy way to remember when to use the preterite form? Soy Daniela Sanchez, Ive taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As mentioned earlier, the preterite Spanish tense implies that there is a clear starting or ending point for the subject at hand. Or share that time you tried some delicious homemade albondigas, only to discover you ate squid meatballs. The simple past tense, or the preterite, isnt that hard to learn. Something to point out, too, is that this form only has three verbs with irregular conjugations. Youre not alone! You can start telling everyone about your dream last night, what you thought of last nights episode of your favourite Spanish soap opera, and the weird things you were wearing to start small talk. Notice in the previous examples that its very clear that the actions (bold) finished at some point in the past. When do you use the past simple tense (or preterite tense) in Spanish? If youre using a time-related word, like yesterday or last week, more often than not youll use this form. Then conjugate accordingly. Ill only be explaining past tense here, so review those first if you need to. In Spanish, the preterite is the tense that allows us to talk about actions that were completed in the past. Related Resource: Spanish Preterite Conjugation Quiz, Hola! Notice that example #3 uses reflexive verbs. Fluent in 3 Months Courses: Check out our courses and guides to learn the Fluent in 3 Months method. Again, the -er and -ir verbs conjugate the same way. For instance, I ran a 5k race in Spanish is Corr una carrera de 5k. I was cooking food when the smoke detector went off., The verb cocinar (to cook) takes the imperfect form because its the action I was performing. Take heart. This type of structure is very common in casual or conversational Spanish: Hace dos das vi a tu hermanaI saw your sister two days ago. Once you get used to changing Spanish verbs into the past tense, youll be able to talk about all kinds of new things in Spanish. Is your destination a Spanish-speaking country? As you can see, there are some time expressions (underline in the examples) that trigger or work with the preterite tense. Notice that most of the time its difficult to know when our past habits have finished. ), -zar (such as abrazar, almorzar, etc-), Talking about complete and finished activities (clear ending point), Refer to specific dates and periods of time (clear starting point), Express how many times an action was made in the past, Describe that a past action interrupted a sequence of events. He called me liked ten times, Related Resource: Difference Between Tiempo vs Vez in Spanish. Home Articles The Past Tense in Spanish: How to Master Spanish Preterite Conjugation. Are you ready to go beyond the basics and 1-Up your Spanish grammar skills? As you may have already noticed, pretrito is used to refer to specific actions, things or events in the past. Take a look at our favourite language courses. In English, we have only one form of simple past tense. Notice that, since were talking about a sequence of events, you will need to use multiple verbs conjugated in the preterite tense. For that reason, in this article, weve discussed when you should use preterit in Spanish. During the day Im a freelancer and marketer, while at night Im here writing for students of the world wide web looking to learn Spanish. Below there is a phrase structure that you can follow as well as some examples of how to apply it: [Verb conjugated in preterite] + [number of times], Lisa y yo vimos esa pelcula tres vecesLisa and I saw that movie three times, Esta maana, Cindy se cambi de ropa dos vecesThis morning, Cindy changed her clothes two times, Has visto a Michael? For example, take Yo corra from above. I hope you find what youre looking for here during your journey into Espaol . The interrupting action will be in the preterite form. So, thats what Ill be teaching you a bit about today. Thats simple past tense, the preterite form. Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of when and how to use the preterite tense in Spanish. Since we have other past tenses, its difficult for many students to know when to use preterite in Spanish. The more you use them (and the sillier the stories! In the Spanish past tense, -er and -ir verbs conjugate the same way, so its one less thing to learn! For that situation, you will need to use the imperfect tense. Its not a habit or a routine. In many cases, you could use either the preterite or the imperfect tense to describe a situation. Speaks: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Esperanto, Mandarin Chinese, American Sign Language, Dutch, Irish. The easiest forms to start getting your point across, though, are the simple and imperfect past tenses. Seriously, when I first started learning Spanish, I felt like Charlie Brown sitting in class listening to his teacher go Wah wah wah wah But eventually, I changed my mindset, and my persistence paid off. The past tense in Spanish is one of them. Now that weve covered the past tense, you can tell all kinds of stories from your past! Since these verbs can mean an old habit or something that was interrupted, you have to understand the meaning from context. If youve already taken the time to learn the most important material first and have a basic grasp of Spanish, then youre ready for this next step. Take Note: Even though Spanish preterite is used to talk about specific times and dates, we dont use it to tell the time in the past. Here are some examples of the most common irregular verbs that you need to know: Caro dijo que no vendraCarolina said that she wouldnt come. Gear up, put on your game face, and let's learn the past tense in Spanish. These spelling changes are meant to keep the pronunciation of this word consistent. You can also use this form to talk about age, characteristics or feelings that were true in the past but not true anymore, and past time. If so, you may want to take the time to learn some essential travel phrases in Spanish that can help you Spanish Gender 101: Feminine & Masculine Nouns in Spanish. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers whove moved and visited here over the years. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers whove moved and visited here over the years. Here is a conjugation chart that you can use when conjugating regular verbs in preterite tense: Unlike the imperfect conjugation, pretrito has a lot of irregular verbs. When deciding which one to use, you must think about your true meaning. For that reason, in this article, Ive compiled 5 popular situations that require you to use this tense. Thats a lot of ways to use this tense. But in Spanish, there are two: the preterite and imperfect tenses. Make sure you already have a basic understanding of verb conjugation in Spanish, plus Spanish pronouns. Or, something that only happened once. The action that happened 5 minutes ago (Claire calling me) is already completed, same thing with the other examples. Although you could use numbers to refer to a date, you can also use time expressions with the same purpose. All of these are forms of past tense in some way. This could mean I was in the habit of running every day or I was running (but then I was interrupted; something else happened).. Fun-loving Irish guy, full-time globe trotter and international bestselling author. Here are a few examples comparing present and past tense: Youll notice some similarities between the present and past tense. Or when you went to Cabo, forgot your el protector solar on the beach, and turned red as a lobster. Otherwise, youll use the following endings: [Spanish Past Tense: Imperfect Tense Verbs chart]. When I lived there, I used to go to the beach every weekend. I only burned it a little. Soy Daniela Sanchez, Ive taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. Even though these words usually trigger the Spanish preterite tense, you dont need to use them in all your sentences. Think about your own childhood: you learned grammar naturally while listening and speaking. You use the preterite tense when you want to express that something happened at a specific time, with a definitive end. The verb disparar (to shoot or to go off) is in the preterite form because the smoke detector is what interrupted me. They are ir (to go), ver (to see), and ser (to be). Get used to writing these stories down in past tense for some helpful practice. Lets look at the chart for how to form a simple past tense verb: [Spanish Past Tense: Simple Past Tense Verbs chart]. The Past Tense in Spanish: How to Master Spanish Preterite Conjugation, Bennys Top Resources for Learning American Sign Language, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Vietnamese, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Turkish, Bennys Top Resources for Learning European Portuguese, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Hebrew, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Tagalog, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Swedish, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Cantonese, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Esperanto, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Korean, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Arabic, Bennys Top Resources for Learning Polish, the weird things you were wearing to start small talk. So, unlike other Spanish tenses, we use preterite to talk about events that happened and finished at some point in the past. Thats because the imperfect tense has no direct equivalent in English. In both situations, the meaning would be the same, but the nuance is different. Learning Hubs: Your fast track to speaking a new language. Its actually pretty straightforward. Below there are some examples that will help you understand this concept more easily.
Even though sentences with simultaneous actions are quite common in Spanish, they might be a little more complicated since they require you to use two different past tenses: preterite and imperfect or pluscuamperfecto.
), -car (such as sacar, tocar, buscar, explicar, secar etc. In other words, we use this tense when talking about a string of actions that we performed at some point in the past. By the end of this, youll have a better idea of when to use preterite in Spanish. Was it a habit or something ongoing? But Corra una carrera de 5k also means I ran a 5k race or, I used to/was running a 5k race. Thats the imperfect past tense. As you can see, all these examples are time-based. When learning past tense, many learners have issues conjugating these types of verbs. I used to live (a continued past action), He used to be (a past characteristic), and It was very hot (a continued state in the past). link to 91 Top Spanish Travel Phrases & Words for Tourists, link to Spanish Gender 101: Feminine & Masculine Nouns in Spanish, Difference Between Tiempo vs Vez in Spanish, -gar (such as jugar, pagar, negar, etc. In these types of sentences, the preterite tense is used to introduce an action that interrupted another one. In other words, we use this tense when it is very clear that a past action has finished or been completed. The helping verbs usually used are haber, or to have, and estar, to be. This site also participates in other affiliate programs, including CJ and other sites, and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies, but in no way increases the cost to you if you opt to make a purchase from my links.
This grammar point isnt the main topic of this lesson, but just know there are other forms to learn still. Once you become comfortable with these forms and learn to add and conjugate the helping + main verbs, the other tenses are easier to pick up. The imperfect tense, also called the el pretrito imperfecto or copretrito, describes past habits. They happened once (or twice, in my case of locking myself out of the house), and had a specific end. ), the easier these forms will stick in your mind. Or a one-off action in the past? If youre talking about an action that was interrupted, the action that was happening will be in the imperfect form. During the day Im a freelancer and online marketer, while at night Im here writing for students of the world wide web looking to learn Spanish. However, this doesnt mean that all your sentences need to use these words. Ustedes fueron maestras de inglsYou were English teachers. Here are some examples and a phrase structure. One of the first things youll find out when learning Spanish is that all nouns have a gender. That said, there are a few points in Spanish that can be tricky. You can also use it to talk about something you were doing but that didnt have a definite end. In Spanish, a common use of preterite is to form sentences with simultaneous actions (actions that took place at the same time). Just like any other tenses, in order to form the simple past in Spanish, you need to use the verbs root and add the appropriate ending. Ayer me marc como diez vecesHave you seen Michael? THIS is how I learn a language in 3 months. In fact, it was never my destiny to learn Spanish but I did it anyway. I dont normally recommend starting with grammar or stressing about it too much early on. The same can be true for Spanish if you put in the right effort in the right places. En 2001, fui a Francia con mis amigosIn 2001, I went to France with my friends, La maestra de espaol no vino hoyThe Spanish teacher didnt come today, Clark y Mayra se casaron el ao pasadoClark and Mayra got married last year. Now, if youre stressing about this? An example: Cocinaba comida cuando se dispar el detector de humo. [Verb conjugated in preterite] + [date/time], Mi hermana naci el 20 de noviembreMy sister was born on November 20, Ayer terminamos de trabajar a las 10Yesterday we finished working at 10, Allison vivi en Madrid durante 5 mesesAllison lived in Madrid for 5 months. Unconventional language hacking tips from Benny the Irish polyglot; travelling the world to learn languages to fluency and beyond! Are you planning a well-deserved vacation? [Verb 1 conjugated] + [Verb 2 conjugated] + [Verb 3 conjugated], Ya lavamos, planchamos y doblamos nuestra ropaWe already washed, ironed and folded our clothes, Ayer, fui a la tienda, llev a mi hermano a la escuela y lav todos los trastesYesterday, I went to the store, took my brother to school and washed the dishes, Jonathan se ba, prepar su desayuno y se cepill los dientesJonathan showered, prepared his breakfast and brushed his teeth. Additionally, Ill include some examples, phrase structures, conjugation models and time expressions that trigger this tense. Why does this get confusing? Use the search field below. One of the main characteristics of Spanish preterite is that this tense has a clear starting and ending point. I hope you find what youre looking here during your journey into Espaol Read More About Me, 91 Top Spanish Travel Phrases & Words for Tourists.