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

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

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

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	bebió	bebieron

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

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	comencé	comenzamos
2nd person	comenzaste	comenzasteis
3rd person	comenzó	comenzaron

On to the exercises...

Ejercicios del pretérito

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

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

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

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'

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