Spanish

Preterite Tense

A tense describing a completed, one-off action in the past.

Por ejémplo: Perdí mi movil en la calle.

Translation: I lost my mobile phone in the street.

Here is a list of the possible endings for the preterite (in [-ar verbs], [-er/-ir verbs]):

• ☆ I - é, í
• ☆ You - aste, iste
• ☆ He/She - ó, ió
• ☆ We - amos, imos
• ☆ Y'all - asteis, isteis
• ☆ They - aron, ieron

Please beware that é in the preterite does not refer to the third person like the present.

Irregulars include:

• ☆ Tener - Ten- stem change into Tuv-, and ignore the accents.
• ☆ Hacer - Hac- stem change into Hic, and ignore the accents EXCEPT Hizo which stem changes into Hiz-.
• ☆ Ser and Ir - BE AWARE that Ser and Ir share the same preterite, and they stem change into Fu-, and ignore the accents. Also, the Él/Ella/Usted form is Fue, not Fuo.