Preterite

This tense expresses an action that was completed at some time in the past.

Mi padre llegó ayer - My father arrived yesterday.
María fue a la iglesia esta mañana. - Mary went to church this morning.
¿Qué pasó? - What happened?
Tomé el desayuno a las siete. - I had breakfast at seven o'clock.
Salí de casa, tomé el autobús y llegué a la escuela a las ocho - I left the house, I took the bus and I arrived at school at eight o'clock.

For regular verbs that  in the indicative end in ar you form the preterite tense by dropping the ar ending and adding the appropriate ending using the chart below.

Verbs that end - ar

Test yourself on the following "-ar" verbs: "comprar - to buy", "llegar - to arrive" and "trabajar - to work".  Once you think you know the answer place your cursor over the box and drag it to the right to reveal the answer.

For regular verbs that  in the indicative end in er you form the preterite tense by dropping the er ending and adding the appropriate ending using the chart below.

Verbs that end - er

Test yourself on the following "-er" verbs: "aprender - to learn", "beber - to drink" and "comer  - to eat".  Once you think you know the answer place your cursor over the box and drag it to the right to reveal the answer.

For regular verbs that  in the indicative end in ir you form the imperfect indicative tense by dropping the ir ending and adding the appropriate ending using the chart below.

Verbs that end - ir

Test yourself on the following "-ir" verbs: "escribir - to write", "recibir - to receive" and "vivir - to live".  Once you think you know the answer place your cursor over the box and drag it to the right to reveal the answer.

Notice that regular verbs that end in -er and regular verbs that end in -ir you form the preterite tense of the verb using the same endings.