Preterite regular verbs in Spanish

Beginner Spanish Grammar Lesson

use of Spanish Preterite Regular Verbs

The Spanish Preterite tense with regular verbs

Grammar notes on the preterite with regular verbs

We use the preterite to talk about past events and facts that happened at a specific point in time. In order to form the preterite we need to remember certain rules. Let's start first with the preterite regular verbs. Regular verbs have three different endings in the infinitive form, so by applying this rule you can conjugate them all. Then we have the irregular preterite verbs. The changes in these verbs not always follow a clear pattern and so you will need to memorize many of them.

Preterite Regular Verbs - Verbos Regulares

 hablarcomervivir
yohablécomíviví
hablastecomisteviviste
Ud., él, ellahablócomióvivió
nosotros(as)hablamoscomimosvivimos
vosotros(as)hablasteiscomisteisvivisteis
Uds., ellos, ellashablaroncomieronvivieron

As you can see, the verbs ending in –ar have a set of endings, whereas the verbs ending in –er and –ir share the same set of endings. The letters that are not coloured, are the stem of the verb, which do not change in regular verbs.

Look at these examples of conjugation:

Pedro habló (hablar) con María por teléfono ayer.

Pedro spoke to María on the phone yesterday.

Ellos comieron (comer) mucho anoche

Note: In the preterite, the nosotros form of –ar verbs looks the same as in the present. The context will help you understand if a text or speech refers to the present or the past.

Grammar Exercises - Preterite

Interactive Grammar Exercise

Complete the following sentences with the Preterite of the regular verbs given in brackets.

Note: Try to use the correct written accents if you can e.g.: á, é, í, ó, ú, ñ, ü.

(Install "Spanish Characters" from the Chrome Web Store for easy use of accents)

If you don't know the correct answer, type '?' to reveal it.

1. ¿Tú  quiz answercon tus padres sobre la cena de Navidad? (hablar)

2. ¿Ustedes  quiz answertaxi o bus para regresar a la escuela ayer? (tomar)

3. Mi  quiz answercomo profesora durante 20 años. (trabajar)

4. Los chicos  quiz answera tarea de Matemáticas en la escuela. (terminar)

5. Yo  quiz answermucho para llegar a la reunión a tiempo el lunes pasado. (correr)

6. Lucas no  quiz answerel pollo porque es vegetariano. (comer)

7. Pedro y su familia  quiz answera Galápagos hace dos años. (viajar)

8. El domingo yo  quiz answerdel parque de diversiones, especialmente de la “montaña rusa”. (disfrutar)

9. Mis amigos  quiz answeragua sin gas en el almuerzo. (beber)

10. Yo compré una pizza y lo  quiz answercon mis compañeros ayer. (compartir)

11. ¿Dónde tú  quiz answera tocar el piano? (aprender)

12. ¿Cuántos años ustedes  quiz answeren Montevideo (vivir)

13. Esta tienda  quiz answerdurante el feriado pasado. (abrir)

14. Tú  quiz answerllamar al doctor antes de ir a su consultorio ayer. (deber)

15. Sara no  quiz answersu mensaje en la tarjeta de cumpleaños para Max. (escribir)

 

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