Pretérito perfecto simple (indefinido) in Spanish
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The pretérito perfecto simple is a form of the verb that is used to talk about actions that were completed in the past in Spanish. It often corresponds to the simple past in English, as in I bought a new bike (compré una bicicleta nueva).
The simple past (Spanish: el pretérito perfecto simple) is one of the most used past tenses in Spanish. We use it to talk about:
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In Spanish there are regular and irregular forms.
The regular conjugation is formed by dropping the endings -ar, -er, -ir of the infinitive form and adding the following endings:
pronouns | -ar verbs conjugated | -er verbs conjugated | -ir verbs conjugated |
---|---|---|---|
Hablar (to speak) | Comer (to eat) | Vivir (to live) | |
Yo | hablé | comí | viví |
Tú | hablaste | comiste | viviste |
Él/Ella | habló | comió | vivió |
Nosotros/-as | hablamos | comimos | vivimos |
Vosotros/-as | hablasteis | comisteis | vivisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | hablaron | comieron | vivieron |
Examples:
Attention: Note, that the first and third persons singular have tilde (written accent mark). This can change the meaning and the subject of a sentence.
Irregular conjugations need to be memorized by heard. We have different types of irregular verbs:
Here you have some examples of the most common verbs that are completely irregular:
ser (to be) | |
---|---|
Yo | fui |
Tú | fuiste |
Él/Ella | fue |
Nosotros/-as | fuimos |
Vosotros/-as | fuisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | fueron |
ir (to go) | |
---|---|
Yo | fui |
Tú | fuiste |
Él/Ella | fue |
Nosotros/-as | fuimos |
Vosotros/-as | fuisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | fueron |
dar (to give) | |
---|---|
Yo | di |
Tú | diste |
Él/Ella | dio |
Nosotros/-as | dimos |
Vosotros/-as | disteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | dieron |
ver (to see) | |
---|---|
Yo | vi |
Tú | viste |
Él/Ella | vio |
Nosotros/-as | vimos |
Vosotros/-as | visteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | vieron |
estar (to be) | |
---|---|
Yo | estuve |
Tú | estuviste |
Él/Ella | estuvo |
Nosotros/-as | estuvimos |
Vosotros/-as | estuvisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | estuvieron |
tener (to have) | |
---|---|
Yo | tuve |
Tú | tuviste |
Él/Ella | tuvo |
Nosotros/-as | tuvimos |
Vosotros/-as | tuvisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | tuvieron |
poder (can/ to be able to) | |
---|---|
Yo | pude |
Tú | pudiste |
Él/Ella | pudo |
Nosotros/-as | pudimos |
Vosotros/-as | pudisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | pudieron |
poner (to put) | |
---|---|
Yo | puse |
Tú | pusiste |
Él/Ella | puso |
Nosotros/-as | pusimos |
Vosotros/-as | pusisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | pusieron |
querer (to want) | |
---|---|
Yo | quise |
Tú | quisiste |
Él/Ella | quiso |
Nosotros/-as | quisimos |
Vosotros/-as | quisisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | quisieron |
hacer (to do/to make) | |
---|---|
Yo | hice |
Tú | hiciste |
Él/Ella | hizo |
Nosotros/-as | hicimos |
Vosotros/-as | hicisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | hicieron |
decir (to say) | |
---|---|
Yo | dije |
Tú | dijiste |
Él/Ella | dijo |
Nosotros/-as | dijimos |
Vosotros/-as | dijisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | dijeron |
saber (to know) | |
---|---|
Yo | supe |
Tú | supiste |
Él/Ella | supo |
Nosotros/-as | supimos |
Vosotros/-as | supisteis |
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | supieron |
Examples:
Some changes are required because of Spanish spelling rules to keep the sound of the consonants c and g with que and gue as well as to maintain the soft sound before i and e with c. Note that this changes apply to the yo form only.
Infinitive in -car | First-person singular (yo) |
---|---|
explicar (to explain) | expliqué (explicaste, explicó…) |
practicar (to practice) | practiqué (practicaste, practicó…) |
buscar (to search/to look for) | busqué (buscaste, buscó…) |
tocar (to touch) | toqué (tocaste, tocó…) |
Infinitive in -gar | First-person singular (yo) |
---|---|
llegar (to arrive) | llegué (llegaste, llegó…) |
jugar (to play) | jugué (jugaste, jugó…) |
negar (to deny) | negué (negaste, negó…) |
pagar (to pay) | pagué (pagaste, pagó…) |
Infinitive in -zar | First-person singular (yo) |
---|---|
comenzar (to begin) | comencé (comenzaste, comenzó…) |
realizar (to perform) | realicé (realizaste, realizó…) |
empezar (to begin) | empecé (empezaste, empezó…) |
almorzar (to have lunch) | almorcé (almorzaste, almorzó…) |
In order to maintain the pronunciation of some verbs ending in -er or -ir, the 3rd person singular and 3rd person plural change i→ y Here are some examples:
leer (to read) | oir (to hear) | creer (to believe) | |
---|---|---|---|
Yo | leí | oí | creí |
Tú | leíste | oíste | creíste |
Él/ella | leyó | oyó | creyó |
Nosotros/-as | leímos | oímos | creímos |
Vosotros/-as | leísteis | oísteis | creísteis |
Ellos, ellas, ustedes | leyeron | oyeron | creyeron |
As in the present tense, there is a pattern of stem-changes in the Spanish verb conjugations. Remember that:
elegir (to choose) | mentir (to lie) | reir (to laugh) | |
---|---|---|---|
Yo | elegí | mentí | reí |
Tú | elegiste | mentiste | reíste |
Él/ella | eligió | mintió | rió |
Nosotros/-as | elegimos | mentimos | reímos |
Vosotros/-as | elegisteis | mentisteis | reísteis |
Ellos, ellas, ustedes | eligieron | mintieron | rieron |
repetir (to repeat) | pedir (to ask for) | preferir (to prefer) | |
Yo | repetí | pedí | preferí |
Tú | repetiste | pediste | preferiste |
Él/ella | repitió | pidió | prefirió |
Nosotros/-as | repetimos | pedimos | preferimos |
Vosotros/-as | repetisteis | pedisteis | preferisteis |
Ellos, ellas, ustedes | repitieron | pidieron | prefirieron |
In the verbs dormir and morir, in the 3 persons singular and 3rd person plural, the root vowel o changes to u
dormir (to sleep) | morir (to die) | |
---|---|---|
Yo | dormí | morí |
Tú | dormiste | moriste |
Él/ella | durmió | murió |
Nosotros/-as | dormimos | morimos |
Vosotros/-as | dormisteis | moristeis |
Ellos, ellas, ustedes | durmieron | murieron |
In Spanish we use different types of past tenses to communicate different ideas. Here you have the situations where you use the pretérito perfecto simple (simple past):
An action completed at a specific moment in the past.
For an action or event that lasted for a specific period of time when you can determine how long the action took place.
For series of actions or events completed in the past even if you cannot determine when these actions took place or for how long.
For actions that are not usually repeated using the following expressions:
expression | translation | example |
---|---|---|
cumplir años | to turn a specific age | Mi hija cumplió 4 años. My daughter turned 4. |
darse cuenta de | to realize | Me di cuenta de que estaba equivocada. I realised I was wrong. |
decidir | to decide | Decidí mudarme a París. I decided to move to Paris. |
descubrir | to discover | Roentgen descubrió los rayos X en 1895. Roentgen discovered X-rays in 1895. |
graduarse | to graduate | Me gradué hace varios años. I graduated a few years ago |
morir | to die | Él murió a los 85 años. He died at 85 years of age. |
With these words we will always use the pretérito perfecto simple (simple past):
Spanish | English |
---|---|
ayer | yesterday |
la semana pasada | last week |
el año pasado | last year |
el 5 de diciembre de 1985 | December, 5th 1985 |
anoche | last night |
después | after |
hace 3 días | 3 days ago |
el miércoles | Wednesday |
en el año 2006 | in 2006 |
de repente | suddenly |
Mi primer viaje a Francia me llevó a París, donde estuve tres semanas. En el aeropuerto nos esperó la guía Vanessa que nos llevó a nuestro apartamento. Primero pasamos unos días en el norte de la ciudad. Allí hicimos un tour por Montmartre, el barrio de los artistas, ubicado en una colina. Allí estuvimos cuatro días.
My first trip to France took me to Paris, where I stayed for three weeks. At the airport we were greeted by Vanessa, the guide who took us to our apartment. First we spent a few days in the north of the city. There, we did a tour of Montmartre, the neighborhood of the artists, located on a hill. We stayed there for four days.
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Hello,
My name is Amina, I’m Mexican, and I have almost 3 decades of experience teaching Spanish, which is my mother language. Regarding studies, I have a major as a Chemist Biologist, a Master in Cytopathology, a doctorate in Education, an FCE certification in English, level B2.
I’ve taught oral and written communication in Spanish to Engineering students, focused on aspects such as formal writing, correct spelling, oral presentations, job interviews and professional skills in general.
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I'm looking forward to meeting you and chat about your goals in Spanish.
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Cambridge Assessment preparation provided
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