Preterite means “past tense”

The preterite tense in Spanish is used to tell what happened at a particular moment in the past.

Preterit verbs deal with “completed past action”

You form the preterite tense of regular verbs by crossing off the ar/er/ir and adding on a new ending.

We have already covered the “AR” preterite endings.

Do you remember them?

Need a review??

They are:

é

aste

ó

amos

asteis

aron

COMPRAR – to buyYo compré

Tú compraste

ÉlElla compró Usted

Nosotros/as compramos

Vosotros/as comprasteis

EllosEllas compraronUstedes

í

iste

ió

imos

isteis

ieron

Yo aprendíI learned

Tú aprendisteYou learned

Él he learned

Ella she learned aprendióUsted you learned

Nosotros/as aprendimosWe learned

Vosotros/as aprendisteisYou guys learned

Ellos they learned

Ellas they learned aprendieronUstedes you guys learned

Yo bebíI drank

Tú bebisteYou (friendly) drank

ÉlElla bebióUstedHe/she/ you (formal) drank

Nosotros/as bebimosWe drank

Vosotros/as bebisteisYou guys drank

EllosEllas bebieronUstedesThey/you guys drank

Yo sacudíI dusted

Tú sacudisteYou (friendly) dusted

ÉlElla sacudióUstedHe/she/ you (formal) usted

Nosotros/as sacudimosWe dusted

Vosotros/as sacudisteisYou guys dusted

EllosEllas sacudieronUstedesThey/you guys dusted

Yo escribíI wrote

Tú escribisteYou (friendly) wrote

ÉlElla escribióUstedHe/she/ you (formal) wrote

Nosotros/as escribimosWe wrote

Vosotros/as escribisteisYou guys wrote

EllosEllas escribieronUstedesThey/you guys wrote

La Canción del Pretérito

é acento aste ó acento amos aroní acento iste ió acento imos ieron

Yankee Doodle went to townlearning all his verbos.When he came to Banda’s classhe showed her his cuaderno.