The Spanish preterite: regular endings, irregular verbs and when to use it

Regular endings

The preterite has two sets of endings: one for -ar verbs, one shared by -er and -ir verbs.

1. The accent is not optional. hablo (I speak) and habló (he spoke) differ only by the stress and the written accent. The same goes for hablé and hable (a subjunctive form).
2. Nosotros can look like the present. hablamos and vivimos are the same in both tenses; the time marker decides: Ayer hablamos con ella. For -er verbs, the forms differ: comemos (present), comimos (preterite).
3. No -s in the tú form. hablaste, comiste. “Hablastes” is heard in speech but is non-standard.

The name varies: pretérito indefinido is the traditional term used in Spanish schools; the Real Academia Española calls it pretérito perfecto simple. In English it is the preterite, or the simple past.

Spelling changes

These verbs are regular in sound, but the spelling changes to keep it.

1. -car, -gar, -zar: the yo form only. buscar → busqué; tocar → toqué; jugar → jugué; llegar → llegué; empezar → empecé; organizar → organicé. The rest is regular: buscaste, jugó.
2. i becomes y between vowels, in the third person. leer: leí, leíste, leyó, leímos, leísteis, leyeron. Also creyó, oyó, cayó, construyó, construyeron.
3. -ir stem changers change in the third person. pedir: pedí, pediste, pidió, pedimos, pedisteis, pidieron. dormir: durmió, durmieron. Also prefirió, sintió, repitió, siguió, murió. -ar and -er stem changers have no stem change in the preterite: pensé, volví, jugué.

The irregular verbs that matter

1. One set of endings for the special stems. -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron, with no written accent: tuve, hizo, never “tuvé” or “hizó”. Hizo is spelt with z to keep the sound.
2. After j, -eron. dijeron, trajeron, condujeron, not “dijieron”.
3. Ser and ir are identical. Fui al cine (I went); Fue increíble (it was). The context decides.
4. One-syllable forms have no accent. fui, fue, di, dio, vi, vio.
5. Dar takes -er/-ir endings. di, diste, dio, although it is an -ar verb.
6. Hay becomes hubo. Hubo un accidente (there was an accident).

Verbs that change meaning

A few verbs mean something slightly different in the preterite, because it presents the action as an event.

Conocí a Lucía en 2020.I met Lucía in 2020.

Supe la verdad ayer.I found out the truth yesterday.

No quiso venir.He refused to come.

Por fin pude terminar.I finally managed to finish.

When to use the preterite

1. Completed actions at a specific time. Ayer fui al cine. En 2019 viajé a México.
2. A sequence of events. Me levanté, desayuné y salí.
3. A closed period. Viví tres años en Sevilla: the three years are over.
4. An event that interrupts. Estaba en casa cuando sonó el teléfono.

Useful time markers: ayer, anoche, anteayer, el sábado pasado, la semana pasada, el año pasado, hace dos años, en 2019, de repente.

Preterite or imperfect?

The imperfect (hablaba, comía, vivía) sets the scene: description, habits, age, time, what was going on. The preterite tells what happened. Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect: ser (era), ir (iba), ver (veía).

Hacía sol y fuimos a la playa.It was sunny and we went to the beach.

De pequeño jugaba al fútbol; un día me rompí la pierna.As a child I used to play football; one day I broke my leg.

Preterite or perfect?

In Spain, the perfect tense (he comido) is used for actions in a period that includes now: hoy, esta mañana, este año, alguna vez. Hoy he comido paella but Ayer comí paella. In most of Latin America, and in the Canary Islands and parts of north-western Spain, the preterite is also used in these cases: Hoy comí paella. Both are correct: teach one model consistently and make sure pupils recognise the other.

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• Missing accents: “hable”, “comio” for hablé, comió. In Spanish an accent can change the tense or the person.
• Accents on irregular forms: “tuvó”, “hizó”, “fué”, “dió”.
• Person confusion: “yo fue” for yo fui; “él fui” for él fue.
• Regularising: “tení”, “hací”, “estí” for tuve, hice, estuve.
• Vine or vi? vine (I came) and vi (I saw) are often mixed up.
• Spelling in the yo form: “jugé”, “empezé”, “buscé”.
• Preterite for description: “Cuando fui pequeño…” for Cuando era pequeño…
• Translating “did”: “¿Hiciste ir…?” for ¿Fuiste…?; the preterite needs no auxiliary.

In class: a past-tense verb wheel

The preterite is the tense GCSE pupils most need in speaking and writing about past events, and the one they forget fastest.

1. Draw a verb: today, hacer. The class says whether it is regular or irregular.
2. Point to a person; the class answers in chorus: hice, hiciste, hizo…
3. Reveal each form after the class has said it. Check the accents out loud: “No accent on hizo!”
4. Add a time marker and ask for one real sentence: El fin de semana pasado hice los deberes.
5. Contrast with the present: Hoy hago…, ayer hice…

That is exactly what a daily conjugation routine does: a verb is drawn, the class conjugates it person by person, in the present up to A2, then in the preterite from B1.

Adapting to your class

• A1Chunks only: fui, fue, comí, jugué, vi.
• A2Regular verbs in all persons, ser / ir, hacer, tener; time markers.
• B1All the irregulars above, spelling changes, preterite versus imperfect in a short story.
• B2Stem changers, verbs that change meaning, preterite versus perfect, and the preterite with the subjunctive: Me pidió que viniera.

At KS3, pupils can tell a weekend or a holiday in the first person with a handful of verbs. For GCSE, aim for the first and third persons of the top verbs without hesitation, then the plural.

Frequently asked questions