The preterite
What happened at a known time: regular endings, fui and fue, and the irregular stems tuve, hice and dije.
Learn
The preterite, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Use the preterite for finished actions at a known time
The preterite says what happened and is over: Ayer visité a mi abuela. Time phrases like ayer, anoche, el sábado pasado, la semana pasada and hace dos años (two years ago) point to it.
Form the preterite of regular -ar verbs
Take the stem and add -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron: hablé means I spoke and habló means he or she spoke. Watch the accent, because hablo without one means I speak. Hablamos is both we speak and we spoke, so the time phrase tells you which.
Form the preterite of regular -er and -ir verbs
Both groups share one set of endings: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. Comí means I ate, salió means he or she went out and vivieron means they lived.
Learn fui and fue, and the preterite of dar and ver
Ir and ser share the same forms: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. Fui al cine means I went to the cinema, and Fue genial means it was great. Dar and ver take the -er endings with no accent: di, dio, vi, vio.
Use the irregular stems tuve, hice, dije and the rest
Some verbs have a new stem and take -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron with no accent: tuve from tener, estuve from estar, and pude, puse, quise, vine and hice, with hizo for he or she did. Dije and traje drop the i for they: dijeron, trajeron.
Make the spelling changes in the I form and the third personsHigher only
To keep the sound, -car, -gar and -zar verbs change in the I form: busqué, jugué, llegué, empecé. Where the stem ends in a vowel, -ió and -ieron become -yó and -yeron: leyó, construyeron.
Change the stem of verbs like pedir and dormir in the third personsHigher only
Stem-changing -ir verbs change e to i or o to u for he, she and they: pidió, pidieron, se vistió, durmió, durmieron. The other persons stay regular: pedí, dormimos.
The preterite key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Preterite
- The past tense for completed actions at a known time: Ayer visité a mi tía means yesterday I visited my aunt.
- fui and fue
- Fui means I went or I was, and fue means he, she or it went or was, because ir and ser share these forms.
- hice and hizo
- I did or made, and he or she did or made: the c of hic- becomes z before -o to keep its sound.
- tuve
- I had, from tuv-, the irregular stem of tener: Tuve que esperar una hora means I had to wait an hour.
- dije
- I said or told, from decir. They said is dijeron, with no i before the -eron.
- Irregular stem
- A preterite stem that is not the infinitive stem, such as estuv-, pud-, pus-, quis- and vin-. It takes -e and -o with no accent.
- Time marker
- A word or phrase that sets the time and so the tense: ayer, anoche, el año pasado and la semana pasada point to the preterite.
- hace with a time
- Ago: hace tres días means three days ago, so Llegué hace una hora means I arrived an hour ago.
Common mistakes in The preterite
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Using fue when you mean I went.
Fui is I went and fue is he, she or it went: Ayer fui al cine con mi hermano.
Leaving the accent off, so hablo (I speak) stands where habló (he spoke) belongs.
In regular verbs the accent shows the tense and the person: hablo is I speak, hablé is I spoke and habló is he spoke. Check the accent every time.
Putting an accent on an irregular stem, as in tuvé or pusó.
Irregular stems take -e and -o with no accent: tuve, puso, estuvo, hice.
Giving a regular ending to an irregular verb, as in tení or hací.
These verbs change their stem in the preterite: tuve, hice, pude, puse, quise, vine, estuve. Learn them as a set.
Using the imperfect for a single finished event, as in Ayer iba al parque.
One completed action at a known time takes the preterite: Ayer fui al parque. Iba means I used to go, or I was going.
Practice
Try a The preterite question
A GCSE-style original question from this topic. Have a go before you open the working - deciding on an answer first is what makes the working stick.
Which form completes the sentence? Ayer yo no ___ salir porque tenía muchos deberes.
- podí
- puedo
- pudo
- pude
Show the answer and the working
Answer: pude
Poder has the irregular preterite stem pud-, and yo takes -e: no pude salir, I could not go out.
- Ayer points to the preterite.
- Poder has the stem pud-.
- Yo takes -e: pude.