For -ar verbs, use -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron. For -er/-ir verbs, use -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. Keep accents: hablé and habló identify different people.
The preterite can present one event, a series or a long bounded period as a completed whole. It is not limited to brief actions, and repeated events can also use it: jugué tres partidos.
Regular preterite forms
Irregular preterites
Ser and ir share fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. Identify meaning from the sentence: fui al parque involves going; fui presidente concerns being in a completed period.
Other useful forms are hice/hizo, tuve, estuve, dije/dijeron and vi. Vi and vio have no written accent; dijeron has -eron after dij-, so avoid inventing dijieron.
Selected irregular preterites
Preterite spelling and leer
In the yo preterite, buscar gives busqué, llegar gives llegué and empezar gives empecé. The change occurs before the ending -é; do not transfer that spelling mechanically to buscó, llegó or empezó.
Leer has leí, leíste, leyó, leímos, leísteis, leyeron. Distinguish these forms from the ordinary -car/-gar/-zar spelling examples rather than applying one rule to every verb.
Keep the sound in the yo preterite
Regular and irregular imperfect
For -ar verbs use -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban. For -er/-ir use -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. Preserve accents such as hablábamos and comíamos.
Use it for past habits and background in an appropriate account: jugaba cada sábado; hacía sol. This viewpoint does not claim the event never finished or that every description and repeated action must use imperfect.
A yo form can match an él/ella/usted form, so use the subject or context. Accents remain essential in éramos, íbamos and the forms of veía.
Regular imperfect forms
Viewpoint in a past narrative
Llovía cuando llegué views rain as ongoing and the arrival as a completed event. De pequeño jugaba al fútbol presents a habit, while jugué tres partidos presents a completed series.
A different tense can be grammatical with a different viewpoint: llovió todo el día presents a completed period. Read the whole account instead of assuming weather means imperfect or repetition means imperfect.
Viewpoint changes the account
Using both tenses in an account
El fin de semana pasado fui al parque. Hacía sol cuando llegué. Jugué al fútbol con mis amigos. This is an invented account; other appropriate past situations are valid.
Identify the completed events fui, llegué and jugué, and background hacía sol. Check subject endings, irregular forms and accents rather than adding a second tense merely to fill a checklist.
Identify the forms in a fictional account
Haber and the participle
Use he, has, ha, hemos, habéis or han with a participle: he comido, ha visto. Regular participles end in -ado or -ido; useful irregulars include hecho, visto and escrito.
With haber, the participle does not agree with the object: he visto las películas. Use of he comido compared with comí varies by region and context; do not impose one English have rule on all Spanish speakers.
Haber plus participle
Time expressions in context
Ayer is yesterday; anoche last night; la semana pasada last week; de pequeño when little; a menudo often; normalmente normally. They locate or characterise the account.
Anoche llegué tarde and anoche llovía are both possible: one reports an event, the other gives ongoing background. The time phrase does not select the tense without the rest of the sentence.
Read the whole sentence
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17.Which uses the simple preterite to report I went to Madrid as a completed trip?
Medium
AFui a Madrid
BIba a Madrid ayer
CVoy a Madrid
DHe fui a Madrid
18.Which uses the imperfect to say When I was little, I used to play football as a habit?
Medium
ADe pequeño jugué al fútbol
BDe pequeño juego al fútbol
CDe pequeño jugaré
DDe pequeño jugaba al fútbol
19.Which presents the rain as ongoing background and the arrival as a completed event: It was raining when I arrived?
Medium
ALlueve cuando llegué
BLlovía cuando llegaba ayer
CLlovía cuando llegué
DLlovió cuando llegaba
20.How do you say "I have eaten"?
Medium
AHemos comí
BHe comido
CHe comer
DHa comido yo
21.How do you say "She has seen the film"?
Medium
AHa visto la película
BHa viendo la película
CHa ver la película
DHa vió la película
22.What is the participle of "hacer"?
Medium
Ahacido
Bhacado
Checho es
Dhecho
23.What is the participle of "escribir"?
Medium
Aescribado
Bescrito es
Cescrito
Describido
24.What is the participle of "ver"?
Medium
Aveído
Bvisto
Cvido
Dvedo
25.In Llovía cuando llegué, what role does imperfect llovía have?
Medium
Ait describes background weather
Bit is a completed event
Cit is future
Dit is an order
26.In Llovía cuando llegué, why does the narrator use preterite llegué?
Medium
Ait describes a habit
Bit describes weather
Cit is background
Dit presents the arrival as a completed event in this narrative
27.Why does "llegar" become "llegué" in the preterite?
Medium
Ait takes -é only
Bit is reflexive
Cthe g changes to gu to keep the hard g sound
Dit is irregular in meaning
28.Why is imperfect jugaba appropriate in De pequeño jugaba al fútbol todos los sábados?
Medium
Ahabits are commands
Bit presents a past habit without viewing its whole time span as a completed unit
Chabits are single events
Dhabits are future
29.Which expression explicitly means normally, often helping describe a past habit when the verb is imperfect?
Easy
Anormalmente
Bayer
Canoche
Del lunes pasado
30.Which expression means last night and can locate a completed preterite event?
Easy
Ade pequeño
Bnormalmente
Ca menudo
Danoche
31.The preterite can present a past action or series of actions as a completed whole.
Easy
True or false?
32."Fui" can only mean I was.
Easy
True or false?
33.The imperfect can present a habit in the past without viewing its whole time span as a completed unit.
Easy
True or false?
34.The participle of hacer is hecho.
Easy
True or false?
35."Llegué" is the imperfect of llegar.
Medium
True or false?
36.Which are irregular preterites?
Medium
Afui
Bhice
Ctuve
Destuve
Ehablé
37.Which are imperfect forms?
Medium
Ahablaba
Bcomía
Ciba
Dera
Efuimos
38.Write three Spanish sentences about an invented or real past weekend. Use a preterite event and imperfect background or habit, making their different roles clear.
Medium
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