A Complete Guide to Preterite Conjugation for Beginners

Would you like to master the preterite conjugation in Spanish? 

How about learning to deal with regular and irregular verbs in the preterite tense? 

Well, today is your lucky day!

In this lesson, you’ll learn all about the preterite Spanish tense, how to conjugate it in regular and irregular verbs, and even some of the most common mistakes to avoid when using it. 

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What Is the Spanish Preterite?

The preterite Spanish is simply what you call the past simple tense in English. In Spanish, the preterite tense is also called pasado, meaning “past.” 

This same tense is also referred to as pretérito indefinido, which means “undefined preterite.”

Use this tense when you want to talk about things that took place in the past and precisely as they happened. You can also use it with actions that started and ended in the past and are completed. 

Understanding the Preterite Conjugation of Regular Verbs

While in the English simple past, all you have to do is add the “-ed” ending to regular verbs, the preterite ending in Spanish is slightly more complex. 

To better understand the preterite conjugation of Spanish regular verbs, follow this simple step-by-step guide. 

Step-by-step Guide to Conjugate Regular Spanish Verbs in the Preterite Tense

In Spanish, there are three types of regular verbs: those ending in -ar, -er, and -ir. The first thing you need to do in your preterite conjugations in Spanish is to remove those two-letter endings of the verbs.

The next step is to simply replace those two letters with the specific ending adequate to the type of verb (-ar, -er, -ir), the person doing the action, and if that person is singular or plural. 

This means that all you need to do is replace the -ar, -er, -ir endings with the correct endings according to the following charts: 

-ar Verbs

Examples: 

Verb cantar (to sing) 

Yo canté ayer en el festival. 
I sang yesterday at the festival. 

Mis hermanas cantaron esa canción el año pasado. 
My sisters sang that song last year. 

Verb hablar (to talk, to speak) 

Miguel habló con tu padre la semana pasada. 
Miguel spoke with your father last week. 

Nosotros hablamos ayer con el director. 
We talked with the director yesterday. 

-er Verbs

Examples: 

Verb comer (to eat) 

Ayer comimos pizza Claudia y yo. 
Yesterday, Claudia and I ate pizza.  

¿Qué comiste el martes pasado?
What did you eat last Tuesday?

Verb leer (to read) 

Ayer leí un libro excelente. 
Yesterday, I read an excellent book. 

Mis padres leyeron Don Quijote de la Mancha en la secundaria. 
My parents read Don Quijote de la Mancha in high school. 

-ir Verbs

As you can see, the -er and -ir preterite conjugations are precisely the same, making it easier for new language learners to master them. 

Examples: 

Verb dormir (to sleep) 

Anoche dormí solo un par de horas.
Last night, I slept only a couple of hours.

En Año Nuevo no dormimos casi nada. 
On New Year’s Eve, we didn’t sleep much at all. 

Verb escribir (to write) 

Mi hermana escribió un libro para niños cuando estaba en la universidad.
My sister wrote a children’s book when she was in college.

Ayer me escribiste un mensaje y por eso estoy aquí. 
You wrote me a message yesterday, and that’s why I’m here. 

Understanding the Preterite Conjugation in Irregular Verbs

As in English, Spanish has some irregular verbs that follow different conjugation patterns than most. These are called irregular verbs. 

The good news is that, for the preterite tense, most irregular verbs follow one main set of endings. 

The bad news is that those endings only apply to stem-changing verbs, and you need to know the irregular stems to use that easy set of endings. 

The solution is to learn the stems of some of the most common irregular verbs.

Examples: 

Anoche estuve en casa de mis padres.
Last night I was at my parents’ house. 

Ayer tuvimos un problema con el carro. 
Yesterday, we had a problem with the car.

La semana pasada viniste a mi casa. 
Last week you came to my house.

El año pasado compusimos esta canción. 
Last year, we wrote this song. 

Preterite Conjugation for Highly Irregular Verbs 

Finally, a few highly irregular verbs follow unique preterite conjugation patterns, which are quite important in Spanish. Let’s analyze them: 

Ser (to be) and ir (to go)

These two verbs are essential, and their use is quite common, so learning their preterite conjugation is crucial. 

In a weird fact of the Spanish language, both verbs have the same preterite conjugation pattern, as you can see below: 

Examples: 

Verb ser (to be) 

Yo no fui quien pintó ese cuadro. 
It wasn’t me who painted that artwork. 

¿Tu fuiste maestro alguna vez?
Were you a teacher once? 

Verb ir (to go) 

Anoche fuimos a la fiesta de Juan. 
Yesterday we went to Juan’s party. 

Mis hermanos fueron al estadio. 
My brothers went to the stadium. 

Hacer (to do, to make) 

Examples: 

Verb hacer (to do, to make) 

No hice mi tarea. 
I didn’t do my homework.

Martha hizo un buen trabajo el año pasado.
Martha did a good job last year. 

Ver (to see, to watch)

Examples: 

Verb ver (to see) 

¿Viste el mensaje de Mamá?
Did you see Mom’s message?

Ayer vimos la nueva película de Disney.
Yesterday we watched Disney’s new film. 

Common Time Expressions in the Preterite Tense

Let’s now complement this lesson with some useful Spanish time expressions in the preterite tense. 

Examples: 

Llegué hace una hora.
I arrived an hour ago. 

Fui maestro una vez. 
I was a teacher once. 

Common Mistakes When Using the Preterite Tense Spanish

One of the most common mistakes new language learners make when using the preterite tense is to confuse it with the imperfect. 

The imperfect is another Spanish tense that deals with the past but in a different way than the preterite. 

So, how do you know which one to use? 

The first thing you need to know is that the preterite deals with past events from a specific timeframe. The imperfect tells when an action took place but without a definite ending. 

Anyway, I recommend you to read this Beginner’s Guide to the Past Tense in Spanish, where my colleague Michelle provides a thorough explanation of the differences between the preterite and the imperfect. 

Another common mistake when using the preterite tense in Spanish is trying to change stems in verbs that do that in the present tense. 

However, this is incorrect for -ar and -er verbs. The rule is that if –ar and -er verbs change stems in the present tense, they don’t change stems in the preterite tense. 

Let’s see a couple of examples of this: 

Practice the Preterite Conjugation and Master this Useful Tense

In this lesson, you have learned what the preterite tense is, how to conjugate it with regular and irregular verbs, and how to avoid some of the most common mistakes when using it. 

However, one thing is to understand a concept; a very different one is to master it. 

To master the preterite conjugation in Spanish, you need to practice it. 

Sign up now for a free trial class with one of our certified, native Spanish-speaking teachers from Guatemala and start speaking in Spanish from the very first class. 

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Luis F. Dominguez

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Luis F. Domínguez is a freelance writer and independent journalist interested in travel, languages, art, books, history, philosophy, politics and sports. He has written for Fodor’s, Yahoo!, Sports Illustrated, Telemundo, and Villa Experience, among other brands of print and digital media in Europe and North America.

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