How Spanish Verbs are Conjugated in the Preterite

The two past tenses used most in Spanish are the imperfect and preterite. Although both tenses are important it is the preterite that is used more often, which is unfortunate for individuals learning Spanish as the preterite contains some of the most highly irregular spanish verbs whereas the imperfect is far less challenging to learn.

Spanish verb Conjugation in the Preterite

The formation of a regular verb in the preterite is formed by using the stem of the verb infinitive and a specific group of endings. It is worth noting that although the -ar verb group does have their own endings, the -er and -ir verb groups use preciselythe same endings as highlighted below.

Hablar ‘to speak‘

• yo habl-é – I spoke;
• tú habl-aste – you spoke (familiar);
• él/ella habl-ó – he/she/it spoke;
• usted habl-ó – you spoke (polite);
• nosotros habl-amos - we spoke;
• vosotros habl-asteis - you spoke (familiar);
• ellos/ellas habl-aron - they spoke;
• ustedes habl-aron – you spoke (polite)

Vivir ‘to live‘ and Comer ‘to eat‘

• yo viv/com-í;
• tú viv/com-iste
• él/ella viv/com-ió
• usted viv/com-ió>
• nosotros viv/com-imos
• vosotros viv/com-isteis
• ellos/ellas viv/com-ieron
• ustedes viv/com-ieron

Preterite Spanish Irregular Verb Endings

There are a vast number of irregular verbs in Spanish, over 2000 actually, and many of these verbs are also irregular in the preterite tense. As always, the best place to start is with the most widely used of them which are; ir ‘to go‘, estar ‘to be‘ and tener ‘to have’.

Ser and Estar ‘to be‘:

• yo fui / est-uve – I went, was;
• tú fuiste / est-uviste – you went, were (familiar);
• él/ella fue / est-uvo – he/she/it went, was;
• usted fue / est-uvo – you went, were (polite);
• nosotros fuimos / est-uvimos – we went, were;
• vosotros fuisteis / est-uvisteis – you went, were (familiar);
• ellos/ellas fueron / est-uvieron – they went, were;
• ustedes fueron / est-uvieron – you went, were (polite)

Tener ‘to have‘:

• yo tuve – I had;
• tú tuviste – you had (familiar);
• él/ella tuvo – he/she/it had;
• usted tuvo – you had (polite);
• nosotros tuvimos – we had;
• vosotros tuvisteis – you had (familiar);
• ellos/ellas tuvieron – they had;
• ustedes tuvieron – you had (polite)

There is one specific anomaly that occurs in the Spanish preterite and it involves the verbs ser ‘to be‘ and ir ‘to go‘, they both use exactly the same formation!…both stem and ending! i.e. yo fui could mean either ‘I was’ or ‘I went’.

In order to understand which of these two verbs is being used, the context in which they are used must be known, i.e. Fui al cine means ‘I went to the cinema‘ and not ‘I was to the cinema‘, also, it is worth noting that in 99.9% of examples when you will see this conjugation it will normally be the preterite of ir!

Here is a list of some of the most common Spanish irregular verbs in the preterite:

• ser ‘to be’
• estar ‘to be’
• haber ‘to have’
• tener ‘to have’
• hacer ‘to do’
• ir ‘to go’
• decir ‘to say’
• venir ‘to come’
• querer ‘to want’
• poder ‘to be able to’
• poner ‘to put’
• dar ‘to give’

Although the initial thought a student has can be that of dread when first dealing with irregular verbs in the preterite, this can easily be dispelled with by using a good verb conjugator that will provide targeted verb drills that will help a student to master them very quickly and easily.

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