Talking about the past
Building a regular past-tense form
Regular preterite forms
Use regular preterite endings to form a completed past event.
Endings refresher
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.
The pattern
- -ar: hablé, hablaste, habló, hablamos, hablasteis, hablaron.
- -er/-ir: comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis, comieron.
- These lists follow yo, tú, él/ella/usted, nosotros, vosotros, ellos/ustedes.
Ayer compré una manta.
Yesterday I bought a blanket.
Why it works: Comprar takes -é for yo in the preterite.
Notice the difference
Ayer compró una manta.
Yesterday she/he bought a blanket.
Why it works: The ending -ó marks él/ella/usted.
One thing to watch for
The accents help distinguish forms: compro = I buy; compró = she/he bought.