Talking about the past
Telling a story in the past
Preterite versus imperfect
Choose how to frame the past: a completed event, an ongoing scene, or a routine.
Endings refresher
Imperfect
Remove -ar, -er or -ir. The imperfect endings are the same for -er and -ir verbs.
| Person | -ar ending | -er / -ir ending |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -aba | -ía |
| tú | -abas | -ías |
| él / ella / usted | -aba | -ía |
| nosotros / nosotras | -ábamos | -íamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | -abais | -íais |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | -aban | -ían |
hacer → hac- + -ía → yo hacía
- Hacer is regular in the imperfect, even though it has irregular forms in other tenses: hago, hice, haré.
- Yo and él / ella / usted share the same imperfect ending. Keep the accent in every -ía form and in nosotros -ábamos.
- These charts use tú. Vosotros / vosotras is mainly used in Spain; ustedes uses the final row. Vos forms vary by region.
Preterite
For regular verbs, remove -ar, -er or -ir and add the person ending.
| Person | -ar ending | -er / -ir ending |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -é | -í |
| tú | -aste | -iste |
| él / ella / usted | -ó | -ió |
| nosotros / nosotras | -amos | -imos |
| vosotros / vosotras | -asteis | -isteis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | -aron | -ieron |
comer → com- + -í → yo comí
- Keep the accents: compré and compró refer to different people. Irregular stems use different endings.
- These charts use tú. Vosotros / vosotras is mainly used in Spain; ustedes uses the final row. Vos forms vary by region.
Irregular preterite
Common strong preterites use a special stem plus these endings. Hacer uses hic-, except hizo.
| Person | Usual ending | Hacer |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -e | hice |
| tú | -iste | hiciste |
| él / ella / usted | -o | hizo |
| nosotros / nosotras | -imos | hicimos |
| vosotros / vosotras | -isteis | hicisteis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | -ieron | hicieron |
hacer → hic- + -e → yo hice
- Other stems include tuv-, estuv-, pud-, pus- and quis-. These forms do not take the regular yo / él written accents.
- Stems ending in j take -eron in the final row: decir → dijeron. Ser and ir instead use fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron.
- These charts use tú. Vosotros / vosotras is mainly used in Spain; ustedes uses the final row. Vos forms vary by region.
The pattern
- Preterite presents an event as a whole: fui.
- Imperfect sets an ongoing scene or describes a habit: caminaba.
Antes caminaba al trabajo; ayer fui en autobús.
I used to walk to work; yesterday I went by bus.
Why it works: Caminaba describes the former routine. Fui presents one particular journey as a completed event.
Notice the difference
Caminé al trabajo tres días seguidos.
I walked to work three days in a row.
Why it works: Even repeated actions can use the preterite when the series is presented as a completed whole.
One thing to watch for
Neither duration nor repetition chooses the tense by itself. Ask whether you are showing an event as a whole or describing its ongoing background.