how to use the Spanish preterite tense

1. THE PRETERITE

2. Spanish has two past
tenses: you will first
learn the preterite.

3. Generally speaking, the
preterite is used for
actions in the past that
are seen as completed.
Use of the preterite
tense implies that the
past action had a
definite beginning and
definite end.

4. Juan habló de la una hasta
las dos.
Juan spoke from one until two
o'clock.
(clearly stated beginning and
end)

5. It is important to
realize that the
beginning and the
end may not
always be clearly
stated.

6. Juan habló dos horas.
Juan spoke for two hours.
(implied beginning and end)
Juan habló con la estudiante.
Juan spoke with the student.
(implied beginning and end)

7. To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite,
simply drop the ending (-ar)
and add one of the following:
é
aste
ó
amos
asteis
aron
NOTICE THE ACCENTS!!!

8. hablar
hablé
hablaste
habló
hablamos
hablasteis
hablaron

9. The preterite is used for actions that
can be viewed as single events.
Ella caminó por el parque.
She walked through the park.
Ellos llegaron a las ocho.
They arrived at eight o'clock.

10. The preterite is used for actions that
were repeated a specific number of
times, or occurred during a specific
period of time.
Ayer escuché tres CDs.
Yesterday I listened to three CDs.
Estudiamos allí por cuatro años .
We studied there for four years.

11. The preterite is used for actions
that were part of a chain of events.
Ayer ella se levantó, cocinó y
desayunó.
She got up, cooked and had breakfast
yesterday.

12. Visité Londres.
Tú miraste la película
Ella amó el regalo.
Hablamos con Marco.
Cenasteis al restaurante.
Ellos ganaron el partido de
fútbol.

13. The preterite is used to
state the beginning or the
end of an action.
Empezó a nevar a las ocho de
la mañana.
It began to snow at eight in the morning.

14. The preceding examples all
fall within our general rule
for using the preterite:
The preterite is used
for past actions
that are seen as
completed.