Spanish Grammar Explained /
Preterite indefinite
Finally, you will be able to talk about the past in Spanish!
Finally!
Hablo con Juan todos los días. | → | Hablé con Juan anoche. |
Aprendo español. | → | Aprendí español en la escuela. |
Escribo en mi blog. | → | Escribí en mi blog. |
Construction
We remove the infinitive ending AR/ER/IR and add the following endings instead (same for ER/IR):
person | stem | ending for -AR |
|---|---|---|
yo | habl- | é |
tú | habl- | aste |
él/ella | habl- | ó |
nosotros/nosotras | habl- | amos |
vosotros/vosotras 🇪🇸 | habl- | astéis |
ellos/ellas/ustedes | habl- | aron |
person | stem | ending for -ER/-IR |
|---|---|---|
yo | aprend-
escrib- | í |
tú | aprend-
escrib- | iste |
él/ella | aprend-
escrib- | ió |
nosotros/nosotras | aprend-
escrib- | imos |
vosotros/vosotras 🇪🇸 | aprend-
escrib- | isteis |
ellos/ellas/ustedes | aprend-
escrib- | ieron |
And aaaaall verbs work like that?
Some verbs change their stem a bit.
That means they're irregular, I knew it!
Don't worry, sing along with Gloria Estefan as she sings "Ayer" and you will be fine!
Are you kidding me?
No, seriously. Check it out, it's in our media.
Some examples, nonetheless:
- querer ⇒ quise, quisiste, quiso, quisimos, quisisteis, quisieron
- tener ⇒ tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron
Ser and ir in the past have the same conjugation!
ser ⇒ fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron
ir ⇒ fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron
You said some examples. Those are quite a few.
Don't worry now about them. We will study them later on and little by little.
Reminder:
In Spain, people use vosotros/vosotras for "you" (plural).
In Latin America, you'll hear people saying ustedes instead.
Tip from a Latin American:
If you use ustedes, you don't have to learn an extra conjugation form, you can always use the same conjugation as ellos/ellas.