Preterite
preterit (past tense)
Preterit is used when talking about things in the past.
regular conjugation
-ar verb (-é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron)
| trabajar to work | singular | plural |
| 1st person | trabajé I worked | trabajamos we worked |
| 2nd person | trabajaste you worked | trabajasteis you worked |
| 3rd person | trabajó he worked | trabajaron they worked |
-er verb (-í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron)
| comer to eat | singular | plural |
| 1st person | comí I ate | comimos we ate |
| 2nd person | comiste you ate | comisteis you ate |
| 3rd person | comió he ate | comieron they ate |
-ir verb(-í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron)
| vivir to live | singular | plural |
| 1st person | viví I lived | vivimos we lived |
| 2nd person | viviste you lived | vivisteis you lived |
| 3rd person | vivió he lived | vivieron they lived |
Ayer, comí demasiado por eso no quiero comer nada ahora. Yesterday, I ate too much so i don’t want to eat anything now.
Ellos viajaron a argentina este verano. They traveled to argentine this summer.
*Recibimos una carta muy extraña ayer. We received a very strange letter yesterday.
(*nosotros form in –ar and –ir have the same conjugated form from present tense)
In this tense, verbs with stem change in the present use the regular stem.
Duermo mucho. I sleep a lot.
Dormí mucho anoche. I slept a lot last night.