Spanish/Lessons/El tiempo pasado

This section of the Spanish wikibook discusses the Spanish past tense. You have presumably learned about the present tense, therefore this section assumes a knowledge of said tense and previously learned vocabulary.

La formación del pretérito edit

The preterite is used to speak of an event that happened at a specific time (I went to Sallly's (yesterday)). First, we must learn the preterite tense, is used for past actions that are seen as completed. There are two different forms of the preterite, one for -ar verbs and a separate form for -er and -ir verbs.

Los verbos regulares del pretérito: -ar edit

Let us learn some conjugation for regular -ar verbs in the preterite now. For example:

El pretérito - ejemplos de verbos -ar
cantar (to sing)
Singular Plural
1st person canté cantamos
2nd person cantaste cantasteis
3rd person cantó cantaron


nadar (to swim)
Singular Plural
1st person nadé nadamos
2nd person nadaste nadasteis
3rd person nadó nadaron

Notice the pattern: in each form, you must drop the "ar" in the infinitive form. For the first person singular, you add "-é", for the second person singular you add "-aste", for the third it is "-ó". As for plural, in the first person "-amos" is added, in the second "-asteis", and in the third we add "-aron".

On to the exercises...

Los verbos regulares del pretérito: -er e -ir edit

Now, we will learn the conjugation for regular -er and -ir verbs. For example:

El pretérito - ejemplos de los verbos -er e -ir
beber (to drink)
Singular Plural
1st person bebí bebimos
2nd person bebiste bebisteis
3rd person beb bebieron


vivir (to live)
Singular Plural
1st person viví vivimos
2nd person viviste vivisteis
3rd person viv vivieron

Notice the pattern: in each form, you must drop the "er" or "ir" in the infinitive form. For the first person singular, you add "-í", for the second person singular you add "-iste", for the third it is "-ió". As for plural, in the first person "-imos" is added, in the second "-isteis", and in the third we add "-ieron".

On to the exercises...

Los verbos con cambios de deletreo en la forma "yo": '-car', '-gar', '-zar' edit

There are also verbs that have a spelling change in the first person singular form. These changes occur in verbs that end in "car", "gar", or "zar" and, in the first two cases, are necessary in order to maintain the original sound of the written verb (in speaking, we tend to pronounce the word correctly without having to think about it).

As explained in the "Alfabeto" section, both "c" and "g" have a 'hard' sound before an "a", "o" or "u", and a soft sound before "e" and "i". In the first-person preterite, then, the "é" ending would change the 'k/' sound of the "c" to an 's/' sound, and the hard-g sound to the Spanish "j" sound. In order to maintain the original sound of the verb, we change the spelling. For a "-car" verb, we change the "c" to a "qu" when it comes before "é":

practicar (to practice)
Singular Plural
1st person practiqué practicamos
2nd person practicaste practicasteis
3rd person practicó practicaron

Similarly, for a "-gar" verb, we add a "u" after the "g":

llegar (to arrive)
Singular Plural
1st person llegué llegamos
2nd person llegaste llegasteis
3rd person llegó llegaron

For "-zar" verbs, there is no longer a change in pronunciation, but tradition calls for the letter "z" to be followed only by "a", "o" or "u". With a following "e" or "i", we change the "z" to a "c":

comenzar (to begin)
Singular Plural
1st person comen comenzamos
2nd person comenzaste comenzasteis
3rd person comenzó comenzaron

On to the exercises...

Ejercicios del pretérito edit

These exercises take what we have learned so far and integrate everything together. Be familiar with the first three sections of el tiempo pasado.

On to the exercises...

La formación del imperfecto edit

The imperfect tense is used to refer to actions in the past that occurred repeatedly. E.g. I used to play with dolls. These have an indefinite time. It's often used to describe past behaviours and likes, especially of childhood.

La formación del imperfecto: los verbos -ar edit

Just as with the preterite, in the imperfect construction -ar verbs receive their own conjugation. For example:

El pretérito - ejemplos de los verbos -ar
hablar (to speak)
Singular Plural
1st person hablaba hablábamos
2nd person hablabas hablabais
3rd person hablaba hablaban


cantar (to sing)
Singular Plural
1st person cantaba cantábamos
2nd person cantabas cantabais
3rd person cantaba cantaban

Notice the pattern: in the imperfect construction we drop the "ar" and add our endings. As for the singular, in the first person we add "-aba", in the second person we add "-abas", and in the third person we add "-aba". In the plural, for the first person we add "-ábamos" (with an accent), for the second person we add "-abais", and in the third we add "-aban".

Onto the exercises...

La formación del imperfecto: los verbos -er e -ir edit

Just as in the preterite, the -er and -ir verbs have their own conjugation. For example:

El pretérito - ejemplos de los verbos -er e -ir
correr (to run)
Singular Plural
1st person corría corríamos
2nd person corrías corríais
3rd person corría corrían


asistir (to attend)
Singular Plural
1st person asistía asistíamos
2nd person asistías asistíais
3rd person asistía asistían

Notice the pattern: in the imperfect construction we drop the "er" or "ir" and add our endings. As for the singular, in the first person we add "-ía", in the second person we add "-ías", and in the third person we add "-ía". In the plural, for the first person we add "-íamos" (with an accent), for the second person we add "-íais", and in the third we add "-ían".

Onto the exercises...

Los verbos irregulares en la forma de imperfecto: 'ser', 'ir' y 'ver' edit

Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect construction: ser, ir, and ver:

ser (to be)
Singular Plural
First era éramos
Second eras erais
Third era eran


ir (to go)
Singular Plural
First iba íbamos
Second ibas ibais
Third iba iban


ver (to see)
Singular Plural
First veía veíamos
Second veías veíais
Third veía veían