Master the Spanish Preterite Conjugation

The Spanish Preterite Conjugation is an important part of the Spanish language. This tense allows us, for example, to talk about completed actions in the past. In this article, we will explore the Spanish Preterite conjugation patterns, including regular and irregular verbs, and the contexts in which this tense is used. This resource is suitable for beginners and intermediate learners seeking to improve their Spanish skills. Join us to learn more about the Spanish Preterite conjugation.

Regular Spanish Preterite Conjugation

Here are the regular Spanish Preterite Conjugation forms.

Things to remember about the regular Spanish Preterite conjugation:
1. The endings for –er and –ir forms are the same.
2. The nosotros or nosotras forms of –ar and –ir verbs are the same as in the Present tense.
– Nosotros cantamos hoy. (We sing today.)
– Nosotros cantamos ayer. (We sang yesterday.)
3. The yo forms of –ar verbs in the Present tense and the él forms in the Preterite tense only differ in their accent.
– Yo canto todos los días. (I sing every day.)
– Él cantó todos los días. (He sang every day.)

Irregular Spanish Preterite Conjugation

We are going to cover all irregular Spanish Preterite conjugation patterns. You will see that they usually have changes in their irregular stem, but their endings remain regular.

Irregular Yo Forms in Spanish Preterite

Verbs ending in –car, –zar, –gar and –guar are irregular in the yo form.

Irregular Él and Ellos Forms in Spanish Preterite

There are different types of vowel stem changes in this group. Some verbs ending in –ir form their Preterite by changing –e– into –i– in the third person forms, and the verbs dormir (to sleep) and morir (to die) form their Preterite by changing –o– into –u– in the third person forms.

When the verb stems end in a vowel, add –y– to form the third person Preterite forms. For example, huir (to escape), leer (to read), creer (to believe)…

Completely Irregular: Traer and –duir Verbs

There is one exception to the previous rule and it is traer (to bring), which forms the Preterite by adding the letter –j– in all forms.

The verbs that end with –ducir also form the Preterite by adding the letter –j-. They change –c– into –j-.

Completely Irregular: Ir and Ser

The verbs ser (to be) and ir (to go) do not follow any particular pattern. They have identical forms that are completely irregular.

Irregular Stem Verbs in the Preterite

Some verbs change their stem before adding the regular Preterite endings. Fortunately, it is a closed list of verb. Some verbs have the letter –i– in the new stem.

Other verbs have the letter –u– in the new stem.

Remember that the verb haber is impersonal and it is used in the third person singular to indicate existence.
– Hoy hay muchas personas aquí. (Today there are many people here.)
– Ayer hubo muchas personas aquí. (Yesterday there were many people here.)

Exercises

Here is a reading text where you will find all Spanish Preterite conjugation forms in context. Read the text and do the following exercises.