2. Objectives:
At the End of the discussion, you will be able to…
◦Identify the Simple Past or Pretérito Indefinido
and;
◦ conjugate it with Regular verbs, Irregular verbs,
and verbs with stem changes and ending.
3. Pretérito Indefinido or Simple Past
It describes past actions in a way
that conveys the sense that were
completed/finished, as opposed to
ongoing, continuing, habitual, etc.
4. When is the pretérito indefinido used?
3 MAIN INSTANCES TO EXPRESS IT:
◦First, a completed action at some point or moment in the past.
Example:
We ate pizza yesterday.
Comimos pizza ayer.
◦Second, the beginning or end of an action in the past.
Example:
I started to listen to his discography.
Comencè a escuchar su discograffía hoy.
5. ◦Third, an action in the past that interrupts an action that
was already taking place (this involves another past tense
called imperfecto).
Example:
After talking to him, his friends went
to his house to say hello, left some food for him
and then left.
Luego de hablar con él, sus amigos
fueron a su casa a saludar, le dejaron algo de
comida y se fueron.
6. There are some words that will make it
easy to identify when to use this tense:
◦ayer, anoche, anteayer or antes de ayer
yesterday, last night, the day before
yesterday
◦la semana pasada, el mes / año / siglo
pasado
last week/month/year/century
◦días/ semanas / meses / años
7. Here are some examples:
◦ La semana pasasada caminé hasta el parque.
Last week I walked to the park.
◦ Anoche, Ana volvió a casa a las tres de la mañana.
Last night, Anna returned home at three in the morning.
◦ Mis padres viajaron por Japón en 2002 (dos mil dos).
My parents travelled around Japan in 2002.
◦ Hace dos años montamos a caballo por primera vez.
Two years ago, we rode horses for the first time.
8. Conjugating regular verbs in pretérito
indefinido in Spanish
First, you remove the -AR, -ER or -IR
endings from the verbs to find the
root of the verb; for example:
hablar – habl
salir – sal
comer – com
Once you have the root of the verb,
simply add the specific suffixes for
each of the pronouns.
Take note that for both -ER and -
IR verbs, the suffixes are the
same!
9. Examples:
◦ Anoche comimos en el
restaurante de Carolina.
Last night we ate at Carolina’s
restaurant.
◦ Ana vivió en Buenos Aires
durante muchos años.
Ana lived in Buenos Aires for many
years.
10. Conjugation of Irregular Verbs
There are many types of irregularities in the past simple
in Spanish. We can group them as follows:
-verbs with stem and ending changes
-verbs with vowel changes in the stem but with regular
endings
-verbs with orthographic changes and other verbs with
special irregularities
11.
12. Verbs with Stem Changes and Ending
In order to learn these verbs, it is necessary to memorize the root change. This new stem will be
maintained in all persons. They will also undergo a change of endings in the first (-é/-í > -e) and third
person singular (-ó/-ió > -o).
13. List of some of these verbs and their change in the stem:
◦Haber = hub-
◦Hacer = hic-
◦Decir = dij-
◦Poder = pud-
◦Estar = estuv-
◦Tener = tuv-
◦Venir = vin-
◦Saber = sup-
◦Traer = traj-
◦Caber = cup-
◦Andar = anduv-
Verbs whose stem ends in -j in the past
simple in Spanish have a change in the
ending of the third person plural: -ieron>-
eron.
For example:
decir>dijeron
traducir>tradujeron
traer>trajeron
14. Verbs that change vowels and consonants in pretérito indefinido
◦ In some cases, vowels have to be changed for both singular and plural
third person forms. The other pronouns follow the regular rules.
Stem change – O changes to U
e.g. dormir, morir
Example :
Dormir (to sleep)
◦ Yo - dormí
◦ Tú - dormiste
◦ Él/ella/usted - durmió
◦ Nosotros – dormimo
◦ Vosotros – dormisteis
◦ Ellos/ellas/ustedes – durmieron
15. STEM CHANGES E to I
e.g. advertir, consentir, mentir, medir, pedir, repetir, seguir,
servir, sentir, sugerir, preferir, gemir, competir
Example:
Sentir (to feel)
Yo- sentí
Tú – sentiste
Él/ella/usted - sintió
Nosotros - sentimos
Vosotros- sentisteis
Ellos/ellas/ustedes – sintieron
19. To finish with the verbal
conjugation in the past simple in
Spanish, we must analyze some
verbs that do not fall into the
previous categories:
ser, ir and dar
The first two share forms. Their
root is fu– but they alternate
regular and irregular endings.
On the other hand, dar is a verb
of the first conjugation (-ar), but
its endings correspond to those
of the second conjugation (-er).
