A2 · The past
Preterite (indefinido)
What happened, once, and was then over.
At a glance
- Remember
- Closed stretch of time, closed action: indefinido.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
The past — Something that happened, finished, and stays where it happened.
- Form
- (yo) habléhablar: I spoke
- Signal words
- ayer
- anoche
- el año pasado
- en 2019
- de repente
- entonces
- Trap
- Wrong:Ayer he hablado con mi jefa.Right:Ayer hablé con mi jefa.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Spanish. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) stem (irregular) tense marker person ending ending for tense and person
| hablar: I spoke | (yo) hablé |
| you spoke | (tú) hablaste |
| he, she spoke; you (formal) spoke | (él, ella, usted) habló |
| we spoke | (nosotros) hablamos |
| you (plural) spoke | (vosotros) hablasteis |
| they spoke; you (formal) spoke | (ellos, ellas, ustedes) hablaron |
| comer (the same for vivir): I ate | (yo) comí |
| you ate | (tú) comiste |
| he, she ate; you (formal) ate | (él, ella, usted) comió |
| we ate | (nosotros) comimos |
| you (plural) ate | (vosotros) comisteis |
| they ate; you (formal) ate | (ellos, ellas, ustedes) comieron |
| ser and ir (identical!): I was / went | (yo) fui |
| you were / went | (tú) fuiste |
| he, she was / went; you (formal) were / went | (él, ella, usted) fue |
| we were / went | (nosotros) fuimos |
| you (plural) were / went | (vosotros) fuisteis |
| they were / went; you (formal) were / went | (ellos, ellas, ustedes) fueron |
| tener: I had | (yo) tuve |
| you had | (tú) tuviste |
| he, she had; you (formal) had | (él, ella, usted) tuvo |
| we had | (nosotros) tuvimos |
| you (plural) had | (vosotros) tuvisteis |
| they had; you (formal) had | (ellos, ellas, ustedes) tuvieron |
| hacer: I did | (yo) hice |
| you did | (tú) hiciste |
| he, she did; you (formal) did | (él, ella, usted) hizo |
| we did | (nosotros) hicimos |
| you (plural) did | (vosotros) hicisteis |
| they did; you (formal) did | (ellos, ellas, ustedes) hicieron |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
A finished event takes the indefinido.
Ayer llegué tarde a la oficina.Yesterday I got to the office late.
A chain of actions takes the indefinido.
Se levantó, se duchó y salió de casa.He got up, had a shower and left the house.
A closed stretch of time requires the indefinido.
Viví tres años en Sevilla.I lived in Seville for three years.
The accent tells the person apart from the present.
Hablo con él. — Habló con él.I am talking to him. — He talked to him.
Example sentences
El tren salió con veinte minutos de retraso.The train left twenty minutes late.
¿Qué hiciste el fin de semana?What did you do at the weekend?
Estuvimos en Granada dos días.We spent two days in Granada.
No dije nada porque no sabía nada.I said nothing because I knew nothing.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English speakers reach for the perfecto (he hablado), because «I have spoken» feels like the polite past. In Spanish the stretch of time decides: if it is over — yesterday, last year, 2019 — the indefinido is required, and «he hablado ayer» is wrong. English makes the same rule with «I have spoken yesterday», which is equally impossible.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The indefinido tells what happened: an event with a beginning and an end, finished, inside a stretch of time that is over. It is the tense of the action — what happened next, and then, and then. It matches the plain English past: «I arrived», «he said».
The endings are the same for -er and -ir and different for -ar. In the regular forms the ending carries the stress, and the accent sits there: hablé, habló — not hable, hablo. The difference from the present hangs on that one stroke.
The commonest verbs have stems of their own with no stress on the ending and so no accent: tuve, estuve, hice, fui, dije, vine, pude, puse. They are learnt in one piece.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: salir · hablar · estar · hacer · llegar · decir · saber · vivir