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Spanish
The preterite is the simple past tense and expresses an action in the past that has a definite ending, as in the English simple past (I ate, you ran etc).
It is not used to express actions in the past that are habitual, or continuous, with no set ending (e.g. I used to play tennis every summer). For this this Spanish imperfect tense is used.
To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite tense, drop the ending and add the following:
| yo | -é |
| tú | -aste |
| él/ella/Ud. | -ó |
| nosotros | -amos |
| vosotros | -asteis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | -aron |
The nosotros form is the same in the present and preterite tenses. The meaning has to be worked out from the context on the sentence.
| Example - llamar / to call | ||
|---|---|---|
| yo | llamé | I called |
| tú | llamaste | you called |
| él | llamó | he called |
| nosotros | llamamos | we called |
| vosotros | llamasteis | you (all) called |
| ellos | llamaron | they called |
In the preterite tense the verb endings are the same for -er and -ir verbs.
| yo | -í |
| tú | -iste |
| él/ella/Ud. | -ió |
| nosotros | -imos |
| vosotros | -isteis |
| ellos/ellas/Uds. | -ieron |
| Example - aprender / to learn | ||
|---|---|---|
| yo | aprendí | I learned |
| tú | aprendiste | you learned |
| él | aprendió | he learned |
| nosotros | aprendimos | we learned |
| vosotros | aprendisteis | you (all) learned |
| ellos | aprendieron | they learned |
| Example - compartir / to share | ||
|---|---|---|
| yo | compartí | I shared |
| tú | compartiste | you shared |
| él | compartió | he shared |
| nosotros | compartimos | we shared |
| vosotros | compartisteis | you (all) shared |
| ellos | compartieron | they shared |
Some verbs are irregular in the preterite form, here are the most important ones to learn.
| Ser | to be (permanent quality) |
| Estar | to be (temporary states, locations) |
| Tener | to have |
| Hacer | to do, to make |
| Poder | to be able (can) |
| Decir | to say |
| Ir | to go |
| Ver | to see |
| Dar | to give |
| Saber | to know |
| Querer | to want |
| Llegar | to arrive |
| Poner | to put |