Preterite: Complete Reference | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

The preterite (pretérito indefinido or pretérito perfecto simple) is the workhorse past tense of Spanish. It expresses actions that are completed, bounded in time, and usually understood as a single event — I called, she arrived, we ate. This page collapses every preterite sub-topic into one comprehensive reference you can use to review, diagnose mistakes, or drill the whole tense at once.

Spanish has a second simple past — the imperfect — which handles habits, descriptions, and background. The preterite is its opposite: it closes the door on an action. If you need the other half of the story, see Imperfect: Complete Reference.

Regular -ar Endings

Drop -ar from the infinitive and add the endings below. The yo and él forms carry written accents.

Subject	Ending	hablar	trabajar	cantar
yo	-é	hablé	trabajé	canté
tú	-aste	hablaste	trabajaste	cantaste
él / ella / usted	-ó	habló	trabajó	cantó
nosotros	-amos	hablamos	trabajamos	cantamos
ellos / ustedes	-aron	hablaron	trabajaron	cantaron

Ayer hablé con mi jefe sobre el proyecto.

Yesterday I spoke with my boss about the project.

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The nosotros form hablamos is identical in the present and the preterite. Context tells you which one is meant: Hoy hablamos (today, present) vs. Ayer hablamos (yesterday, preterite).

See Regular -ar Verbs for drills.

Regular -er / -ir Endings

-er and -ir verbs share a single set of preterite endings. Again, yo and él carry accents.

Subject	Ending	comer	vivir	aprender
yo	-í	comí	viví	aprendí
tú	-iste	comiste	viviste	aprendiste
él / ella / usted	-ió	comió	vivió	aprendió
nosotros	-imos	comimos	vivimos	aprendimos
ellos / ustedes	-ieron	comieron	vivieron	aprendieron

Comimos en un restaurante peruano y salimos tarde.

We ate at a Peruvian restaurant and left late.

For more, see Regular -er/-ir Verbs.

Stem Changes (-ir Verbs Only)

Unlike the present tense, only -ir verbs change stem in the preterite, and the change happens only in the third person (él, ellos). There are two patterns:

e → i: pedir, sentir, preferir, repetir, servir, mentir, divertir(se), seguir
o → u: dormir, morir

Subject	pedir (e→i)	sentir (e→i)	dormir (o→u)	morir (o→u)
yo	pedí	sentí	dormí	morí
tú	pediste	sentiste	dormiste	moriste
él	pidió	sintió	durmió	murió
nosotros	pedimos	sentimos	dormimos	morimos
ellos	pidieron	sintieron	durmieron	murieron

El niño pidió agua y se durmió enseguida.

The boy asked for water and fell asleep right away.

Se divirtieron muchísimo en la fiesta.

They had a great time at the party.

See Stem Changes e→i and Stem Changes o→u.

Spelling Changes: -car, -gar, -zar

Verbs ending in -car, -gar, and -zar change their spelling only in the yo form to preserve the pronunciation of the final consonant.

Type	Change	Infinitive	yo form
-car	c → qu	buscar	busqué
-car	c → qu	tocar	toqué
-car	c → qu	sacar	saqué
-gar	g → gu	llegar	llegué
-gar	g → gu	pagar	pagué
-gar	g → gu	jugar	jugué
-zar	z → c	empezar	empecé
-zar	z → c	almorzar	almorcé
-zar	z → c	cruzar	crucé

Busqué las llaves toda la mañana y por fin las encontré.

I looked for the keys all morning and finally found them.

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Think of it as sound protection. Without the change, buscé would be pronounced with an /s/ sound, and llegé with a soft "g". The spelling adapts so the stem still sounds like the infinitive.

More in Spelling Changes -car/-gar/-zar.

Other Spelling Changes: -eer, -oír, -uir → y

When an unstressed i would fall between two vowels, it becomes y. This affects verbs like leer, creer, caer, oír, construir, huir, destruir.

Subject	leer	oír	caer	construir
yo	leí	oí	caí	construí
tú	leíste	oíste	caíste	construiste
él	leyó	oyó	cayó	construyó
nosotros	leímos	oímos	caímos	construimos
ellos	leyeron	oyeron	cayeron	construyeron

Leyó el libro en una sola noche.

She read the book in a single night.

Los albañiles construyeron la casa en seis meses.

The builders built the house in six months.

See Other Spelling Changes.

Ser and Ir: Identical Forms

Ser and ir share the exact same preterite conjugation. Context always tells you which one is meant.

Subject	ser / ir
yo	fui
tú	fuiste
él	fue
nosotros	fuimos
ellos	fueron

Fui al mercado esta mañana.

I went to the market this morning. (ir)

Fui estudiante de esa universidad.

I was a student at that university. (ser)

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Notice there are no accents on fui or fue, unlike every other preterite tú/él form you've seen. This is a common spelling trap.

See Ser and Ir.

Dar and Ver

Dar is an -ar verb that unexpectedly takes -er/-ir endings. Ver takes regular -er/-ir endings but drops all accents because its forms are monosyllabic.

Subject	dar	ver
yo	di	vi
tú	diste	viste
él	dio	vio
nosotros	dimos	vimos
ellos	dieron	vieron

Le di el regalo y vio mi cara de sorpresa.

I gave him the gift and he saw my surprised face.

See Dar and Ver.

The Irregular Pattern

A large family of verbs takes an irregular stem plus a special shared set of endings:

Subject	Ending (no accents!)
yo	-e
tú	-iste
él	-o
nosotros	-imos
ellos	-ieron (or -eron after j)

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The big rule: irregular preterites never carry accents on the yo or él forms. If you see tuve, pude, hice with no tilde, that's correct.

We group the irregular stems into three families: u-stems, i-stems, and j-stems.

U-Stem Irregulars

These verbs have a stem containing u:

Infinitive	Stem	yo	tú	él	nosotros	ellos
tener	tuv-	tuve	tuviste	tuvo	tuvimos	tuvieron
estar	estuv-	estuve	estuviste	estuvo	estuvimos	estuvieron
poder	pud-	pude	pudiste	pudo	pudimos	pudieron
poner	pus-	puse	pusiste	puso	pusimos	pusieron
saber	sup-	supe	supiste	supo	supimos	supieron
andar	anduv-	anduve	anduviste	anduvo	anduvimos	anduvieron
haber	hub-	hube	hubiste	hubo	hubimos	hubieron
caber	cup-	cupe	cupiste	cupo	cupimos	cupieron

Ayer tuve una reunión con el director y estuve allí tres horas.

Yesterday I had a meeting with the director and was there for three hours.

See U-Stem Irregulars.

I-Stem Irregulars

These verbs have a stem containing i:

Infinitive	Stem	yo	tú	él	nosotros	ellos
hacer	hic- / hiz-	hice	hiciste	hizo	hicimos	hicieron
querer	quis-	quise	quisiste	quiso	quisimos	quisieron
venir	vin-	vine	viniste	vino	vinimos	vinieron

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The él form of hacer is spelled hizo (not hico) so the /s/ sound is preserved.

Hice la tarea, quise ayudarte y vine a buscarte.

I did the homework, I wanted to help you, and I came to get you.

See I-Stem Irregulars.

J-Stem Irregulars

These verbs have a stem ending in j. Critically, their ellos form is -eron (not -ieron) — the i is absorbed.

Infinitive	Stem	yo	tú	él	nosotros	ellos
decir	dij-	dije	dijiste	dijo	dijimos	dijeron
traer	traj-	traje	trajiste	trajo	trajimos	trajeron
conducir	conduj-	conduje	condujiste	condujo	condujimos	condujeron
traducir	traduj-	traduje	tradujiste	tradujo	tradujimos	tradujeron
producir	produj-	produje	produjiste	produjo	produjimos	produjeron

Dijeron la verdad y trajeron pruebas.

They told the truth and brought evidence.

Mi abuelo condujo ese carro durante cuarenta años.

My grandfather drove that car for forty years.

See J-Stem Irregulars. Essentially all -ducir verbs follow this pattern.

Usage: When to Use the Preterite

Completed Actions

The core job of the preterite is to express an action seen as finished — it has a clear beginning and end, even if the time frame is long.

Viví en Guatemala durante cinco años.

I lived in Guatemala for five years.

Mi abuela murió en 2019.

My grandmother died in 2019.

See Completed Actions.

Sequences of Events

When one action follows another in a narrative, the preterite moves the story forward.

Llegué a casa, me quité los zapatos, preparé la cena y me senté a ver tele.

I got home, took off my shoes, made dinner, and sat down to watch TV.

See Sequences.

Time Expressions

Certain time markers almost always trigger the preterite because they fence the action into a closed window:

Spanish	English
ayer	yesterday
anoche	last night
la semana pasada	last week
el mes pasado / el año pasado	last month / last year
hace dos días / hace un año	two days ago / a year ago
en 2010, en enero	in 2010, in January
de repente	suddenly
por fin	finally
durante + period	for + period

Anoche cené con mis primos y luego vimos una película.

Last night I had dinner with my cousins and then we watched a movie.

See Time Expressions.

Verbs That Change Meaning in the Preterite

A small but important group of verbs takes on a different nuance when switched from imperfect to preterite. The preterite focuses on the moment of change or the completed attempt.

Verb	Imperfect meaning	Preterite meaning
saber	knew (had the knowledge)	found out, learned
conocer	knew (was acquainted)	met for the first time
poder	was able (in general)	managed to / succeeded in
no poder	couldn't (in general)	failed to (despite trying)
querer	wanted	tried to
no querer	didn't want	refused
tener	had (possession)	got, received
tener que	had to (obligation)	had to and did

Supe la noticia esta mañana.

I found out the news this morning.

Conocí a tu hermana en la boda.

I met your sister at the wedding.

Por fin pude terminar el informe.

I finally managed to finish the report.

Quiso abrir la puerta pero estaba cerrada con llave.

He tried to open the door but it was locked.

No quisieron venir a la fiesta.

They refused to come to the party.

Tuve una carta de mi tío ayer.

I got a letter from my uncle yesterday.

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This meaning shift is the single most tested preterite topic at B1. When you see supe, conocí, pude, quise, tuve — pause and ask whether the speaker means the moment (preterite) or the state (imperfect).

See Meaning Change.

Hace + Time + Que

To say "X years ago" you use hace + period + que + preterite, or the flipped order preterite + hace + period.

Hace dos años que viajé a Colombia.

I traveled to Colombia two years ago.

Compré esta casa hace diez años.

I bought this house ten years ago.

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Be careful: hace + time + que + present means something very different ("I have been doing X for..."). Same structure, different tense, opposite meaning.

See Hace + Time.

Preterite Perfect (Rare)

The pretérito anterior (hube hablado, hubiste hablado...) is almost extinct in modern Spanish — you'll only see it in literature after cuando, apenas, en cuanto. For practical purposes, use the simple preterite or the pluperfect instead. See Preterite Perfect.

Putting It All Together: Narration

Real storytelling blends preterite (plot) with imperfect (scenery). Practice with short narrative paragraphs — see Narration Practice.

Era tarde y llovía cuando llegué a casa. Abrí la puerta, encendí la luz y vi a mi gato dormido en el sofá.

It was late and raining when I got home. I opened the door, turned on the light, and saw my cat asleep on the couch.

Study Checklist

Memorize the two sets of regular endings cold.
Drill the yo forms of -car/-gar/-zar verbs until they're automatic.
Learn the three irregular families (u, i, j) as groups, not one verb at a time.
Lock in ser/ir = fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron and remember: no accents.
Practice the meaning-change verbs in context until you feel the difference between sabía and supe.
Cross-train with the imperfect: every story needs both. See Preterite vs Imperfect and Imperfect: Complete Reference.

Common mistakes

❌ Ayer yo hablo con mi jefe.

Wrong: using the present tense for a completed past action.

✅ Ayer yo hablé con mi jefe.

Correct: the accent on -é marks the preterite yo form.

❌ Yo tuvé una reunión ayer.

Wrong: irregular preterites never carry accents on yo or él.

✅ Yo tuve una reunión ayer.

Correct: tuve has no accent — stress falls on the stem.

❌ Ellos dijieron la verdad.

Wrong: j-stem verbs use -eron, not -ieron.

✅ Ellos dijeron la verdad.

Correct: after j, the i is dropped.

❌ Cuando era niño, fui al parque todos los días.

Wrong: habitual past actions need the imperfect, not the preterite.

✅ Cuando era niño, iba al parque todos los días.

Correct: iba (imperfect) for habitual actions.