Home / Courses / Spanish 2 / Unit 2

Spanish 2 Unit 2: The Preterite: Regular Verbs

This unit introduces the preterite, the past tense for completed actions, starting with regular verbs and their spelling changes.

Covers: Regular -ar preterite endings, Regular -er and -ir preterite endings, Spelling changes in -car, -gar and -zar verbs, The i→y change in leer, creer and oír, No stem changes for -ar and -er verbs, Past time expressions and hace + preterite

Study guide

The preterite (el pretérito) describes actions that are viewed as finished at a definite point in the past: ayer hablé con mi profesora (yesterday I talked with my professor). To form it, drop the infinitive ending and add the preterite endings. Regular -ar verbs use -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron: hablé, hablaste, habló, hablamos, hablasteis, hablaron. Regular -er and -ir verbs share one set: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron, as in comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis, comieron. Notice the written accents on the yo and él forms. Without the accent, hablo would be present tense, and hable would be a different form entirely, so accents are not optional here.

Some forms look the same as the present. For -ar and -ir verbs, the nosotros form is identical in the present and the preterite: hablamos and vivimos can mean we speak or we spoke. Context, usually a time expression, tells you which is meant. For -er verbs, the forms differ: comemos (present) versus comimos (preterite). Another important point is that -ar and -er verbs that stem-change in the present do not stem-change in the preterite. Cerrar is cierro in the present but cerré in the preterite, and volver is vuelvo in the present but volví in the preterite. The -ir stem changers do change in the preterite, but only in the third person, which is covered in the next unit.

Verbs ending in -car, -gar and -zar have a spelling change in the yo form only. The goal is to keep the same sound before the ending -é. With -car, c becomes qu (tocar → toqué, buscar → busqué, sacar → saqué). With -gar, g becomes gu (llegar → llegué, pagar → pagué, jugar → jugué). With -zar, z becomes c (empezar → empecé, almorzar → almorcé). These verbs are completely regular in every other form: tocó, llegaste, empezaron. Do not mix in present-tense stem changes; empiecé and almuercé are incorrect because empezar and almorzar keep their infinitive stems in the preterite.

Verbs whose stem ends in a vowel, such as leer, creer and oír, change the i of the third-person endings to y, because Spanish avoids an unstressed i between two vowels. So leer gives leyó and leyeron, creer gives creyó and creyeron, and oír gives oyó and oyeron. The other forms keep a written accent on the i: leí, leíste, leímos. Time expressions help you recognize when to use the preterite: ayer (yesterday), anoche (last night), anteayer (the day before yesterday), la semana pasada, el año pasado, una vez, de repente. To say how long ago something happened, use hace + time + que + preterite (hace dos años que viajé) or preterite + hace + time (viajé hace dos años).

Key ideas

• The preterite presents a past action as complete at a definite time.
• -ar verbs use -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron.
• -er and -ir verbs share -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron.
• Accents on the yo and él forms distinguish the preterite from other tenses.
• -car, -gar and -zar verbs change spelling only in the yo form.
• -ar and -er stem changers have regular stems in the preterite.
• Hace + time + que + preterite means something happened that long ago.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Dropping the accent, so habló (he spoke) becomes hablo (I speak).
• Adding an s to the tú form, as in hablastes instead of hablaste.
• Forgetting the yo spelling change, as in pagé or buscé.
• Carrying present-tense stem changes into the preterite, as in cierré or empiecé.
• Writing leió or creieron instead of leyó and creyeron.

Before the test, make sure you can

• Conjugate regular -ar, -er and -ir verbs in the preterite with correct accents.
• Apply the yo spelling changes for -car, -gar and -zar verbs.
• Form the third-person preterite of leer, creer and oír with y.
• Explain why -ar and -er stem changers keep regular stems in the preterite.
• Recognize time expressions that call for the preterite.
• Use hace + time to say how long ago something happened.
• Tell the preterite from the present when nosotros forms look the same.

Words to know

ayer

yesterday

anoche

last night

anteayer

the day before yesterday

la semana pasada

last week

el mes pasado

last month

el año pasado

last year

una vez

once

de repente

suddenly

sacar fotos

to take photos

visitar

to visit

bailar

to dance

nadar

to swim

mirar una película

to watch a movie

descansar

to rest

comprar

to buy

pagar

to pay

buscar

to look for

llegar

to arrive

empezar

to begin

terminar

to finish

almorzar

to have lunch

volver

to return

Sample practice questions

30 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.