Exclusive lesson series for email subscribers - The Past Tenses

Understanding the Preterit Tense

The past tenses - preterit and imperfect - can be confusing subjects for upper beginner and intermediate learners, so if you struggle to understand these, you are not alone!

It doesn’t need to be difficult though. In the next few days we’ll break it down in a simple to understand way.

English past tenses

Spanish isn’t alone in having multiple past tenses. Think about English for a minute. You can say:

I ran..
I was running..
I used to run..

These are all past tenses of the verb “to run”, but they all have slightly different meanings.

A simple way to summarise them would be like this:

Keep these three cases in mind as we look at the preterit and imperfect.

What is the preterit past tense?

The preterit is the past tense that is used to talk about specific actions that were completed in the past. It usually corresponds to the simple past in English (example 1 above).

I went to the shop yesterday.
I bought a new car last month. 

It is not used for the continuous past (example 2), or generalized past (example 3).

I was going to the shop.
I used to go to the shop.

These examples use the imperfect tense in Spanish. 

Forming the preterit

You do not need to worry about about learning the verb forms yet, in this lesson we’re just looking at when to use the preterit. 

I am listing the verb endings here just so it is easier to identify the preterit in the following examples.

For -ar verbs, the preterit endings are: -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron.

For -er and -ir verbs, the preterit endings are: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron.

Using the preterit

Let’s look at some more specific examples of using the preterit.

Specific one time actions

The preterit is used for completed actions in the past, therefore, actions that are seen as specific one-time events will always use the preterit. 

Beginning or end of an action

Since the preterit is used for actions with a defined start or end point, it makes sense that if we want to state the start or end of an action then the preterit is used.  

Chain of events

If you want to talk about a chain of completed events in the past, then use the preterit. Note that this is just a collection of specific one times actions, as in the first example.

Actions that went on for a certain amount of time

If the action is completed a specific number of times, then the preterit is used. Similarly, if we are referring to a specific period of time (for example three days, weeks, months, etc.) then the preterit is also used. 

Activity - Test your understanding

Answer true or false, whether each of the following sentences would use the preterit tense in Spanish. Answers are at the bottom of the lesson.

1. I used to travel to Europe every 3 months.
2. Last month he ran in a marathon.
3. The guys lost the football match.
4. This morning I argued with my girlfriend.
5. The boys always watched horror movies after school.
6. A week ago, my boss sold his car.
7. My mother always cooked the most delicious food.
8. I didn't used to think that.
9: We lived in Puerto Rico for 10 years.
10: Did you understand the lesson yesterday?

Wrapping up

To quickly summarize today's lesson, you use the preterit tense when you talk about a specifc event or time in the past. The key word here is specific.

The exception to this is when the past action is setting the scene for something else using the continuous past e.g. I was running, when I tripped. This can be seen as a specific action, but it uses the imperfect instead.

We will look at the imperfect in more detail tomorrow.

Remember to check your answers to the quiz below.

Answers
1: false, 2: true, 3: true, 4: true, 5: false, 6: true, 7: false, 8: false, 9: true, 10: true.