Regular Preterite
Learn -AR endings (hablé/hablaste/habló/hablamos/hablaron) and -ER/-IR endings (comí/comiste/comió). Use the preterite for completed single past actions.
A lesson of Spanish A2 — Elementary, in Past Tense, about 10 minutes.
Regular Preterite (El Pretérito Indefinido Regular)
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to conjugate regular -AR, -ER, and -IR verbs in the preterite tense and use them to describe completed past actions.
What the Preterite Is For
The preterite (pretérito indefinido) expresses completed, bounded past actions — things that happened and are finished.
- Ayer comí una pizza. — Yesterday I ate a pizza.
- Hablé con mi madre el lunes. — I spoke to my mother on Monday.
- Vivieron en México por dos años. — They lived in Mexico for two years. (and then stopped)
If you can answer "when?" with a specific moment or period that has ended, the preterite is almost always correct.
-AR Verb Endings
Take the infinitive, drop -AR, add these endings:
| Pronoun | Ending | hablar example |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -é | hablé |
| tú | -aste | hablaste |
| él/ella/Ud. | -ó | habló |
| nosotros | -amos | hablamos |
| vosotros | -asteis | hablasteis |
| ellos/Uds. | -aron | hablaron |
Notice: The nosotros form (-amos) is identical to the present tense. Context distinguishes them.
Common -AR verbs to practice: hablar, trabajar, escuchar, llegar, comprar, caminar, llamar, tomar, cantar, bailar.
-ER and -IR Verb Endings
Both -ER and -IR verbs share the same preterite endings:
| Pronoun | Ending | comer example | vivir example |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -í | comí | viví |
| tú | -iste | comiste | viviste |
| él/ella/Ud. | -ió | comió |