Spanish past tense
“Spanish past tense” usually means the preterite, the tense for finished events like hablé, comí, viví. But Spanish has four past tenses in daily use, and choosing between them is about how you see the action, not only when it happened.
The four past tenses at a glance
| Tense | hablar | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Preterite (pretérito indefinido) | hablé | Completed events: Ayer hablé con Ana. |
| Imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) | hablaba | Background, habits, “was …ing”: Hablaba con Ana cuando… |
| Present perfect (pretérito perfecto) | he hablado | Past within a present time frame (Spain), life experience: Nunca he hablado con ella. |
| Pluperfect (pluscuamperfecto) | había hablado | Past before another past: Ya había hablado con ella. |
Regular preterite endings
Drop -ar, -er or -ir and add the ending. Note the written accents on yo and él: without them, hablo (I speak) and habló (he spoke) would look the same.
| -ar (hablar) | -er (comer) | -ir (vivir) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablé | comí | viví |
| tú | hablaste | comiste | viviste |
| él/ella | habló | comió | vivió |
| nosotros | hablamos | comimos | vivimos |
| vosotros | hablasteis | comisteis | vivisteis |
| ellos | hablaron | comieron | vivieron |
The irregular stems: one pattern, many verbs
About a dozen common verbs swap in a new stem and take a special set of endings with no accent. Learn the stem and the rest is automatic.
- yo tuve
- tú tuviste
- él/ella tuvo
- nosotros tuvimos
- vosotros tuvisteis
- ellos tuvieron
Compare the regular -er endings: no accent on yo (tuve, not tuví) and él (tuvo, not tuvió).
Spelling changes in the yo form
Verbs ending in -car, -gar, -zar change spelling in the yo form of the preterite to keep the pronunciation: buscar → busqué, llegar → llegué, empezar → empecé. Verbs like leer, creer, oír change i to y in the third person: leyó, leyeron.
Stem-changing -ir verbs
-ir verbs with a stem change in the present also change in the third person of the preterite, e→i and o→u: pedir → pidió, pidieron; dormir → durmió, durmieron. -ar and -er stem-changers (pensar, volver) are regular in the preterite.
Frequently asked questions
How many past tenses are there in Spanish?
Four are used in everyday speech: the preterite (hablé), the imperfect (hablaba), the present perfect (he hablado) and the pluperfect (había hablado). The preterite anterior (hube hablado) survives only in formal writing.
Preterite or present perfect: which one should I use?
In most of Spain, the present perfect is used for actions within a time period that is still going on (Hoy he comido paella) and the preterite for finished periods (Ayer comí paella). In most of Latin America the preterite is used for both.
What are the irregular preterite stems?
The most common are: tener → tuv-, estar → estuv-, andar → anduv-, poder → pud-, poner → pus-, saber → sup-, haber → hub-, caber → cup-, hacer → hic-, querer → quis-, venir → vin-, decir → dij-, traer → traj-, and verbs in -ducir → -duj-. They take unstressed endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron (-eron after j).
Why are ser and ir the same in the preterite?
Both conjugate fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. Context tells them apart: Fui al mercado (I went) vs Fue un día largo (It was).