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Introduction
The preterite indefinite, or preterite perfect simple, of indicative is used in Spanish to express
actions that began and ended in the past and took place punctually or in a delimited temporal
space, or that interrupted another course of action also in the past and that is expressed in the
imperfect preterite.
In this section you will learn how to identify the situations in which the indefinite past tense
should be used in Spanish and the rules of conjugation of regular and irregular verbs. In the
exercises section you can test your knowledge.
Example
Last year a new girl came to class. She was Chinese, from Beijing. With a map she explained to
us all about her country and her city.
I loved getting to know her, but just when we were starting to become real friends she had to
leave. It was a real shame. I was very sad.
The use of the preterite indefinite past tense of indicative in
Spanish
The preterite indefinite is used in Spanish to express:
■ actions that take place at a certain time in the past in a punctual way;
Example:
Last year a new girl came to class
With a map, she explained everything about her country and her city.
I loved meeting her, .
It was a real pity.
I was very sad.
■ a new action occurring in the past that interrupts a course of action that was already in
progress and is expressed in the past imperfect tense.
Example:
Just when we were starting to become real friends he had to leave
Conjugation in the past tense indefinite indicative tense
To conjugate a verb in the indefinite past tense, we have to remove the endings -ar, -er, -ir from
the infinitive and add the endings corresponding to each person, as shown in the table. Verbs
ending in -er and -ir take the same endings.
-ar -er / -ir
Person
Endings speak Endings learn live
I -é spoke -í I learned I lived
you -aste you -iste you learned you
spoke lived
he/she/it -ó spoke learned lived
we -let's go we speak -imos we learned we live
you -asteis you -isteis you learned you
speak lived
they/you/they -aron spoke -they went to learned lived
Reflexive verbs
In the case of reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, se, nos, os, se) is always placed
before the verb.
Example:
I moved out
you moved out
he moved out
we moved
you moved
they moved
Irregular Conjugation
Some indefinite verbs are conjugated irregularly.
■ Verbs that transform their root before adding the endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis,
-ieron/-eron.
Irregular
Infinitive Pretérito indefinido (I, you, he, he, we, we, you, they)
root
walk anduv- anduve, anduviste, anduvo, anduvimos, anduvisteis,
anduvieron
fit cup- cupe, cupiste, cup, cupo, cupimos, cupisteis,
cupieron
give d- gave, gave, gave, gave, we gave, gave, gave, gave
say dij- I said, you said, said, said, we said, you said, they
said
be estuv- I was, you were, it was, we were, you were, were,
were
see hub- hube, hubiste, haber, hubo, hubimos, hubisteis,
hubieron
make hic- / I did, you did, did, we did, you did, did, did
hiz-
power pud- could have, could have, could have, could have,
could have, could have, could have, could have
put pus- put, put, put, put, put, we put, put, put, put, put
want quis- wanted, wanted, wanted, wanted, we wanted,
wanted, wanted, wanted, wanted, wanted
know sup- knew, knew, knew, knew, we knew, knew, you knew,
knew, knew
have tuv- had, had, had, had, had, had, had, had, had, had
bring traj- brought, brought, brought, brought, brought, brought,
brought, brought, brought, brought, brought
come vin- I came, you came, came, came, we came, you came,
came, came
see v- saw, saw, saw, saw, saw, saw, saw, saw, saw, saw,
saw
■ The verbs ir and ser are conjugated in the same way in the indefinite form.
Person verb to be verb to go
I I went I went
you you were you were
he, she, you was was
we we went to we went to
you you were you were
they/they were were
■ Some verbs ending in -ir modify the root vowel, e → i, o → u, in the third person singular and
plural.
Example:
pedir: pedí, pediste, pidió, pidió, pedimos, pedisteis, pidieron
dormir: dormí, dormiste, durmió, dormimos, dormisteis, durmieron
■ Verbs ending in -ducir (like traducir or conducir) take the irregular ending -uje in the first
person singular and replace the c with a j in the rest.
Example:
translate - traduje, tradujiste, tradujisteis, tradujo, tradujo, tradujimos, traduujimos,
traduujimos, traduujimos, tradujisteis, tradujeron
■ Verbs ending in -er and -ir that contain a vowel at the end of the stem do not add an i but
a y in the third person singular and plural.
Example:
caer: caí, caíste, cayó, caímos, caísteis, cayeron
distribuir: distribuí, distribuiste, distribuuyó, distribuimos, distribuisteis, distribuuyeron
leer: leí, leíste, leó, leímos, leísteis, leísteis, leídos
oír: oí, oíste, oyó, oímos, oísteis, oyeron
■ Sometimes it is necessary to change the final consonant of the stem in the first person singular of
verbs ending in -ar. This is done to maintain the indefinite pronunciation of the root that gives the
infinitive.
Example:
from c to qu → atracar - atraqué - atraqué
de g a gu → colgar - col
de gu a gü → averiguar - averiguaré
de z a c → empezar - empecé
■ Verbs ending in -er or -ir whose stem ends in -ll or -ñ do not add an i in the third person
singular and plural.
Example:
tañer - tañó/tañeron
bullir-bulló/bulleron
