To talk about recent outings, movies, or events, you will need time expressions to say exactly when an action happened. These expressions usually go at the beginning or the end of a sentence.
Single-word time expressions
Words like ayer (yesterday), anoche (last night), and anteayer (the day before yesterday) are very common adverbs used to anchor an event in the past. You can also use adverbs like recientemente (recently).
| They got together yesterday to go to the concert. | Ellos se reunieron ayer para ir al concierto. |
| The comedy that we saw last night was wonderful. | La comedia que vimos anoche fue maravillosa. |
| I bought the tickets for the concert the day before yesterday. | Compré las entradas para el concierto anteayer. |
Using "pasado"
To say "last week" or "last year", use the word pasado (past / last). It functions as an adjective and comes directly after the time period you are talking about.
Because it is an adjective, it must agree with the noun's gender (pasado for masculine, pasada for feminine):
- el mes pasado (last month)
- el año pasado (last year)
- la semana pasada (last week)
| We went to the music festival last week. | Fuimos al festival de música la semana pasada. |
| The tickets were very cheap last year. | Las entradas fueron muy baratas el año pasado. |
"Último" vs. "pasado"
While pasado is used for the immediate past (like "last week"), the word último means "last" or "final" in a sequence (like "the last movie we saw"). Notice that último is placed before the noun, while pasado is placed after.
| The last movie that we saw was fascinating. | La última película que vimos fue fascinante. |
| The last game was last week. | El último partido fue la semana pasada. |