Past Tense in Spanish: Preterite Conjugation and Usage

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Spanish has several ways to talk about the past. Two of the most useful are the preterite, for completed or bounded events, and the imperfect, for habits, background and actions viewed in progress.

This guide shows you when to use each one and gives you the regular conjugation tables that were missing from the original lesson. If subjects and verb endings are still new to you, review Spanish verb conjugation and Spanish pronouns first.

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Two Spanish Simple Past Tenses: Preterite and Imperfect

English often uses the simple past where Spanish makes a choice between the preterite and imperfect. That choice is about how you present the past event, not just the English words you translate.

• Corrí una carrera de 5 km. – “I ran a 5 km race.” The preterite presents the race as a completed event.
• Corría una carrera de 5 km cuando empezó a llover. – “I was running a 5 km race when it started to rain.” The imperfect presents the running as the background action in progress.

For a closer comparison once you know the forms, see this guide to the preterite versus imperfect.

How to Form the Spanish Preterite

To form the regular preterite, remove the infinitive ending and add the ending for the subject. Regular -er and -ir verbs use the same set of endings. Pay close attention to the written accents in the yo and third-person singular forms.

Subject	hablar (to speak)	comer (to eat)	vivir (to live)
yo	hablé	comí	viví
tú / vos	hablaste	comiste	viviste
él / ella / usted	habló	comió	vivió
nosotros / nosotras	hablamos	comimos	vivimos
vosotros / vosotras	hablasteis	comisteis	vivisteis
ellos / ellas / ustedes	hablaron	comieron	vivieron

Vosotros is the familiar plural form used mainly in Spain. Ustedes is used throughout Latin America for plural “you” and also serves as the formal plural in Spain.

Compare the present and preterite:

• I run: Yo corro.
• I ran: Yo corrí.
• He eats: Él come.
• He ate: Él comió.
• They dance: Ellos bailan.
• They danced: Ellos bailaron.

These tables cover regular verbs. Common irregular preterite forms such as fui, hice and tuve need to be learned separately.

When to Use the Spanish Preterite

Use the preterite when you present an event as complete or bounded. Common uses include:

• a completed event: Trabajé ayer. – “I worked yesterday.”
• a sequence of events: Llegué, comí y salí. – “I arrived, ate and left.”
• a stated number of occurrences: Fueron a la playa dos veces. – “They went to the beach twice.”
• the beginning or end of an event: La película empezó a las ocho. – “The film started at eight.”

I can add a real example of my own: Me quedé fuera de casa dos veces. “I locked myself out of the house twice.”

Words such as ayer, “yesterday”, and la semana pasada, “last week”, often appear with the preterite, but a time expression is a clue rather than a rule. The meaning and viewpoint of the whole sentence decide the tense.

How to Form the Spanish Imperfect

The regular imperfect also has one set of -ar endings and one shared set for -er and -ir verbs:

Subject	hablar (to speak)	comer (to eat)	vivir (to live)
yo	hablaba	comía	vivía
tú / vos	hablabas	comías	vivías
él / ella / usted	hablaba	comía	vivía
nosotros / nosotras	hablábamos	comíamos	vivíamos
vosotros / vosotras	hablabais	comíais	vivíais
ellos / ellas / ustedes	hablaban	comían	vivían

Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect:

Subject	ir (to go)	ser (to be)	ver (to see)
yo	iba	era	veía
tú / vos	ibas	eras	veías
él / ella / usted	iba	era	veía
nosotros / nosotras	íbamos	éramos	veíamos
vosotros / vosotras	ibais	erais	veíais
ellos / ellas / ustedes	iban	eran	veían

Here is the contrast with the same three regular verbs:

• corrí – “I ran” as a completed event; corría – “I was running” or “I used to run”
• comió – “he ate” as a completed event; comía – “he was eating” or “he used to eat”
• bailaron – “they danced” as a completed event; bailaban – “they were dancing” or “they used to dance”

The two tenses often work together. The imperfect sets up an action in progress, while the preterite introduces a completed event: Cocinaba cuando sonó el detector de humo. “I was cooking when the smoke detector went off.”

When to Use the Spanish Imperfect

Use the imperfect when you present a past situation from within it, without focusing on its beginning or end. It commonly describes:

• a past habit: Cuando vivía allí, iba a la playa todos los fines de semana. – “When I lived there, I used to go to the beach every weekend.”
• an action in progress: Cocinaba cuando sonó el detector de humo. – “I was cooking when the smoke detector went off.”
• background or weather: Hacía mucho calor. – “It was very hot.”
• age: Él tenía tres años en esta foto. – “He was three years old in this photo.”
• clock time: Eran las tres. – “It was three o'clock.”
• a state or characteristic at a past reference point: Era muy pequeño. – “He was very small.”

The imperfect does not by itself say that a situation later stopped or that an action was interrupted. Context supplies that information.

Sometimes both tenses are grammatical, but they frame the situation differently. Hacía mucho calor el verano pasado describes the heat as background, while Hizo mucho calor el verano pasado sums up the summer as a completed period.

What About the Other Spanish Past Tenses?

Spanish has other ways to refer to the past. Some are simple verb forms, while others use an auxiliary:

• haber + past participle forms compound tenses: he hablado, “I have spoken”, and había hablado, “I had spoken”
• estar + gerund forms a progressive construction: estaba hablando, “I was speaking”

You do not need every past construction at once. First get comfortable choosing between the preterite and imperfect, then return to the broader Spanish conjugation guide for the other forms.

Practise the Spanish Past Tense

Write four sentences about yesterday: two completed events in the preterite, one action that was already in progress, and one background detail in the imperfect. Then check every written accent against the tables before you say the sentences aloud.