ar verbs

To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following:

Yo-é
Tu- aste
El/ella/ud- ó
Nos- amos
Ellos/ellas/uds.aron

To conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-er or -ir) and add one of the following:

Yo-í
Tu-iste
El/ella/ud.-ió
Nos-imos
Ellos/ellas/uds.-ieron

Here is an example of a regular preterit verb.

hablar
hablé
hablaste
habló
hablamos
hablasteis
hablaron

Note: the nosotros forms for -ar verbs are the same in both preterite and present tenses: hablamos


The preterite is used for actions that can be viewed as single events.

Ella caminó por el parque.
She walked through the park.
Ellos llegaron a las ocho.
They arrived at eight o'clock.

The preterite is used for actions that were repeated a specific number of times, or occurred during a specific period of time.

Ayer escribí tres cartas.
Yesterday I wrote three letters.
Vivimos allí por cuatro años.
We lived there for four years.

The preterite is used for actions that were part of a chain of events.

Ella se levantó, se vistió, y salió de la casa.
She got up, dressed, and left the house.

The preterite is used to state the beginning or the end of an action.

Empezó a nevar a las ocho de la mañana.
It began to snow at eight in the morning.

The above examples all fall within our general rule for using the preterite:
The preterite is used for past actions that are seen as completed.