Sofia · Learn Spanish Learn Spanish — Guides & Tips Spanish Preterite Conjugation: Every Ending, Chart & Irregular
The Spanish preterite is the past tense for completed actions — things that happened once, started and finished, done. To conjugate it, you drop the infinitive ending and add one set of endings for -ar verbs (-é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -aron) and one shared set for -er and -ir verbs (-í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -ieron). That’s two patterns, not three, and they cover the overwhelming majority of Spanish verbs.
This guide is pure conjugation mechanics: the regular charts, the spelling tweaks, and the small club of irregulars that dominate real conversation. If you’re wondering when to use the preterite versus the imperfect, that’s a different question — covered in preterite vs imperfect. Here we make sure that once you’ve chosen the preterite, the right form comes out of your mouth.
Regular Preterite Endings: The Two Charts
-AR verbs (hablar — to speak)
| Person | Ending | Hablar | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -é | hablé | ah-BLEH |
| tú | -aste | hablaste | ah-BLAHS-teh |
| él / ella / usted | -ó | habló | ah-BLOH |
| nosotros | -amos | hablamos | ah-BLAH-mohs |
| ustedes / ellos | -aron | hablaron | ah-BLAH-rohn |
-ER and -IR verbs (comer — to eat, vivir — to live)
| Person | Ending | Comer | Vivir |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -í | comí | viví |
| tú | -iste | comiste | viviste |
| él / ella / usted | -ió | comió | vivió |
| nosotros | -imos | comimos | vivimos |
| ustedes / ellos | -ieron | comieron | vivieron |
Three things to burn in early:
- The accents are not decoration. Hablo (AH-bloh) means “I speak” — present tense. Habló (ah-BLOH) means “he/she spoke.” One written accent, different person, different tense. Stress the last syllable in yo and él forms or you’re accidentally talking about the present. (If your present-tense forms are shaky, shore them up first with Spanish present tense conjugation.)
- -ER and -IR verbs share one set of endings. Learn it once, use it twice.
- Nosotros overlaps with the present for -ar and -ir verbs: hablamos is both “we speak” and “we spoke.” Context always disambiguates, and native speakers never even notice.
Spelling Changes That Aren’t Really Irregular
Three groups of -ar verbs change spelling in the yo form only, purely to preserve the sound:
- -car → -qué: buscar → busqué (boos-KEH) — I looked for. Also: sacar, tocar, explicar.
- -gar → -gué: llegar → llegué (yeh-GEH) — I arrived. Also: pagar, jugar, apagar.
- -zar → -cé: empezar → empecé (ehm-peh-SEH) — I started. Also: almorzar, comenzar, organizar.
Every other form of these verbs is perfectly regular. Say yo busqué, tú buscaste out loud and you’ll hear why the spelling shifts — Spanish is protecting the hard “k” and “g” sounds.
One more pattern: -er/-ir verbs whose stem ends in a vowel (leer, oír, creer, construir) swap the i for a y in third person: leyó, leyeron (leh-YOH, leh-YEH-rohn); oyó, oyeron. The other forms take accents on the í: leí, leíste, leímos.
Stem-Changing -IR Verbs: The Sandal Pattern
Verbs like dormir and pedir that stem-change in the present also change in the preterite — but only -ir verbs, and only in the third person:
| Person | Dormir (o→u) | Pedir (e→i) | Preferir (e→i) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | dormí | pedí | preferí |
| tú | dormiste | pediste | preferiste |
| él / ella / usted | durmió | pidió | prefirió |
| nosotros | dormimos | pedimos | preferimos |
| ustedes / ellos | durmieron | pidieron | prefirieron |
Teachers call this the “sandal” pattern because the changed forms wrap around the bottom of the chart. Crucially, -ar and -er stem-changers (pensar, volver, contar) are completely regular in the preterite: pensé, volvió, contaron. No stem change at all.
The 12 Irregulars That Actually Matter
A group of very common verbs takes a brand-new stem plus its own endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -ieron — with no accent marks anywhere. Learn the stem, and the rest is mechanical:
| Verb | Stem | Yo | Él/Ella | Ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tener (to have) | tuv- | tuve | tuvo | tuvieron |
| estar (to be) | estuv- | estuve | estuvo | estuvieron |
| poder (to be able) | pud- | pude | pudo | pudieron |
| poner (to put) | pus- | puse | puso | pusieron |
| saber (to know) | sup- | supe | supo | supieron |
| hacer (to do/make) | hic- | hice | hizo | hicieron |
| querer (to want) | quis- | quise | quiso | quisieron |
| venir (to come) | vin- | vine | vino | vinieron |
| decir (to say) | dij- | dije | dijo | dijeron |
| traer (to bring) | traj- | traje | trajo | trajeron |
Two footnotes: hacer spells the él form hizo (with a z, to keep the soft sound), and j-stem verbs (decir, traer, and -ducir verbs like conducir → conduje) drop the i in the ellos form: dijeron, not “dijieron.”
Then there are the true wild cards:
- Ser and ir share identical forms: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron. Fui al cine (I went to the movies) vs. Fui estudiante (I was a student). Context does all the work.
- Dar behaves like a tiny -er verb: di, diste, dio, dimos, dieron. No accents.
- Ver: vi, viste, vio, vimos, vieron. Also accent-free.
- Hay becomes hubo (there was/there were): Hubo un problema.
Nearly all of these sit in the top tier of the most common Spanish verbs, which is exactly why they got worn down into irregular shapes — and why you can’t skip them.
Trigger Words That Signal the Preterite
Certain time expressions almost always frame a completed action, so they pair naturally with the preterite:
- ayer (ah-YEHR) — yesterday: Ayer trabajé diez horas. (Yesterday I worked ten hours.)
- anoche (ah-NOH-cheh) — last night: Anoche vimos una película. (Last night we watched a movie.)
- la semana pasada / el año pasado — last week / last year: El año pasado viajé a México. (Last year I traveled to Mexico.)
- hace + time — ago: Llegué hace dos horas. (I arrived two hours ago.)
- de repente (deh reh-PEHN-teh) — suddenly: De repente empezó a llover. (Suddenly it started to rain.)
- una vez / dos veces — once / twice: Fui a España una vez. (I went to Spain once.)
Hear one of these, and your brain should already be reaching for a preterite ending.
10 Sentences to Say Out Loud
- Compré café esta mañana. — I bought coffee this morning.
- ¿Comiste algo? — Did you eat something?
- Mi hermana llegó tarde. — My sister arrived late.
- Vivimos en Madrid por dos años. — We lived in Madrid for two years.
- No pude dormir anoche. — I couldn’t sleep last night.
- ¿Qué hiciste el fin de semana? — What did you do over the weekend?
- Me dijeron la verdad. — They told me the truth.
- Fuimos a la playa el sábado. — We went to the beach on Saturday.
- Ella pidió tacos y yo pedí pozole. — She ordered tacos and I ordered pozole.
- Empecé a estudiar español hace tres meses. — I started studying Spanish three months ago.
Notice how many use irregulars — that’s not an accident. In real past-tense conversation, fui, hice, tuve, dije and friends carry a huge share of the load.
A 5-Minute Daily Drill
- Last thing at night (or first thing in the morning), narrate yesterday in six sentences: what you ate, where you went, who you talked to, what you bought, what you watched, when you slept.
- Say them out loud, in Spanish, all in the preterite.
- Force at least two irregulars per day into the mix (hice, fui, tuve, pude).
- If a form stalls, look it up, then say the corrected sentence three times.
The preterite is a volume game: two patterns, one dozen irregular stems, and enough out-loud reps that hablé and comió come out with the stress in the right place before you’ve had time to think.
FAQ
What are the regular preterite endings in Spanish?
For -ar verbs: -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -aron. For both -er and -ir verbs: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -ieron. Drop the infinitive ending, attach the ending for the person, and mind the written accents on the yo and él/ella forms — they carry the stress and the meaning.
How many irregular preterite verbs do I need to memorize?
About fifteen cover real conversation: the ten stem-change irregulars (tuve, estuve, pude, puse, supe, hice, quise, vine, dije, traje), plus ser/ir (fui), dar (di), ver (vi), and hubo. They’re irregular precisely because they’re the most-used verbs in the language, so every one is worth the flashcard.
Why do ser and ir have the same preterite forms?
Historical accident: the Latin verbs collapsed into one set of forms centuries ago, and Spanish never fixed it because context makes the meaning obvious. Fui a la fiesta can only mean “I went”; fui profesor can only mean “I was.” No native speaker is ever confused.
Is “hablamos” present or preterite?
Both — for -ar and -ir verbs, the nosotros form is identical in the two tenses. Hoy hablamos means “today we speak”; ayer hablamos means “yesterday we spoke.” The time expression or context settles it, and -er verbs don’t even have the overlap (comemos vs. comimos).
When do I use the preterite instead of the imperfect?
Preterite for completed, bounded events (I ate, she arrived, we watched a movie); imperfect for background, habits, and descriptions in the past (I used to eat, she was tired, it was raining). The full decision system, with the classic story-telling test, is in the preterite vs imperfect guide.