Spanish Preterite Tense

RULES AND USES OF THE PRETERITE TENSE

The preterite tense can be used in the following situations.

DEFINITE PAST ACTION

It is used to express a definite action in the past that is considered finished.

Yo terminé la clase de español.
I finished the Spanish class.

Ellos finalizaron de construir el edificio.
They finished constructing the building.

USING HACER

It is formed: 'hacer + expression of time + que + past tense verb.

Hace un año que se perdió nuestro perro.
It was a year ago that we lost our dog.

Hace una semana que regresó a su país.
It was last week that he returned to his country.

EXPRESSIONS OF TIME

The preterite is commonly used with the following expressions of time.

Ayer
Yesterday

La semana pasada
Last week

Hace un año
A year ago

Learn how to conjugate preterite tense verbs in Spanish

REGULAR
VERBS

Learn to conjugate regular verbs in the preterite tense that end in 'ar', 'er' and 'ir'.

IRREGULAR AND
STEM-CHANGING VERBS

Learn to conjugate irregular and stem-changing verbs in the preterite tense.

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