What is el pretérito? When do we use it?

• The preterit tense, or el pretérito, is a simple, past tense. Examples: I ate breakfast this morning, I later brushed my teeth and then left for school.

• It's used when discussing completed actions in a recent past.

• It is used for actions that only occurred a FEW times. REMEMBER! Habitual actions in the past would trigger the IMPERFECT tense!​

What are our verb endings?

• ar verbs --> é, aste, ó, amos, aron

• er/ir verbs --> í, iste, ió, imos, ieron

REMEMBER! ER & IR verbs have the same endings!

And of course, we have some irregulars...

• ir (to go) --> yo fui, tú fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron

• tener (to have) --> yo tuve, tú tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvieron

• hacer (to do/make) --> yo hice, tú hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicieron

• There are around 30 irregular past tense verbs in Spanish.

​Lastly. What types of situations or time expressions trigger the preterit tense?

Situations:

One-time action (didn’t repeat)

❏Definite beginning and end

❏Completed action in the past → equivalent to “-ed” in English

❏Interrupting another past action ( cuando …)​

​Time expressions:

★un día = one day

★una vez = once

★el año pasado = last year

★anoche = last night

★ayer = yesterday

★el otro día = the other day

★por + length of time = for...

​