1. The Past Tenses of Spanish
E. Siler

2. Review Point
• In the context of the two forms of “to be”
(ser/estar) we have already noted that there
are two past tenses: the preterite and the
imperfect.
• We have also looked at the imperfect past
tense of “haber” in the context of the
compound tenses (yo había hablado con él > I
had spoken with him).

3. Focus
• The expression of the past in Spanish routinely
includes use of the preterite and the
imperfect.

4. The Preterite
A Past Tense

5. English
• English has the world’s simplest past tense.
• We remove the “to” of the infinitive.
• For a great number of the verbs all we do is add
“ed” to the remaining simple verb form.
• Sometimes we also make a small spelling change
of a doubled final consonant.
• Examples:watched; talked; romanticized;
theorized; regretted; played; melted. (note:
regretted)

6. English continued
• We also have a number of verbs that have an
irregular past tense form.
• They don’t follow the “add –ed” rule.
Examples: Read; sang; found; lost.
• But one nice thing about English past tense
forms: in any given verb, with ONE exception
(the verb “to be”), the same form is used with
all persons/numbers of the subject.

7. English Past Tense
• Notice how neat and simple the English past
tense is.
• Learn ONE form and you’ve learned the form
for all the possible subjects you can imagine.
I walked to the store. We walked to the store.
You walked to the store. You walked to the store.
He/she/ or it walked to the They walked to the store.
store.

8. Spanish
• If only Spanish were so simple!
• The Spanish past tense is called the preterite.
• The verb form changes for EVERY subject
pronoun AND the form changes are different
according to the original infinitive (-ar/er/ir).
• This amounts to more than 18 different
endings in the preterite paradigm.

9. Spanish Preterite – AR verbs
• Hablar (to speak): Remove the –ar and add
these endings. Note the accents. These are
important!
Person Singular Plural
First Yo habl[é] Nosotros/nosotras
habl[amos]
Second Tú habl[aste] Ustedes habl[aron]
Usted habl[ó]
Third Él/ella habl[ó] Ellos/Ellas
habl[aron]

10. Spanish Preterite – ER Verbs
• Comer (to eat). Remove the – er and add
these endings. Note the accents. They are
important.
Person Singular Plural
First Yo com[í] Nosotros/nosotras
com[imos]
Second Tú com[iste] Ustedes com[ieron]
Usted com[ió]
Third Él/Ella com[ió] Ellos/Ellas
com[ieron]

11. Spanish Preterite – IR Verbs
• Vivir (to live). Remove the –ir and add these
endings, which are the same as those for –er
verbs. Note the accents.
Person Singular Plural
First Yo viv[í] Nosotros/Nosotras
viv[imos]
Second Tú viv[iste] Ustedes viv[ieron]
Usted viv[ió]
Third Él/Ella viv[ió] Ellos/Ellas
viv[ieron]

12. Irregular Preterites
• Just as in English, there are irregular preterites.
• Because of the added complication of a different ending for each
person/number, it’s important to review them.
• It is OUTSIDE the limits of a lecture to review every irregular
Spanish preterite, but the following is a list of some of them.
http://www.drlemon.com/Grammar/irreg-pret.html
• The most important irregular preterites to remember are the ones
for the verbs ir (to go), ser (to be), estar (to be), tener (to
have/possess), hacer (to make/do), and decir (to say).
• There are also “classes” of irregular preterites, preterites which take
minor spelling changes (often in the first person singular or the
third person). It is worth at least looking at this in the grammar:
pp. 61-69.
• Other irregulars are not as important, but I suggest you make a verb
flash card for each of these VERY important irregular verbs.

13. Translation of the Preterite
• The Spanish preterite translates (in most cases)
quite nicely as the past tense of the English form.
• There are a few Spanish verbs where the
preterite meaning is somewhat different than the
meaning of the verb in other tenses. For more on
this see this link:
http://www.drlemon.com/Grammar/pret-
meaning.html as well as the bottom of p. 70 in
the grammar.

14. The Imperfect
Another Type of Past Tense

15. Spanish
• Spanish has another way of expressing the
past -- the imperfect.
• Again, endings for the imperfect vary by the
form of the original infinitive and according to
the person and number of the subject.
• However, thankfully, the imperfect is MUCH
more regular than the preterite.

16. Spanish Imperfect – ar Verbs
• Hablar. Remove the –ar and add the endings.
Note the accents!
Person Singular Plural
First Yo habl[aba] Nosotros/nosotras
habl[ábamos]
Second Tú habl[abas] Ustedes habl[aban]
Usted habl[aba]
Third Él/Ella habl[aba] Ellos/Ellas
Habl[aban]

17. Spanish Imperfect – er verbs
• Comer. Remove the –er ending, add the
endings shown. Note the accents!
Person Singular Plural
First Yo comía Nosotros comíamos
Second Tú comías Ustedes comían
Usted comía
Third Él/Ella comía Ellos/Ellas comían

18. Spanish Imperfect – ir verbs
• Vivir. Remove the –er ending, add the
endings shown (same as for the –er verbs).
Note the accents!
Person Singular Plural
First Yo vivía Nosotros vivíamos
Second Tú vivías Ustedes vivían
Usted vivía
Third Él/Ella vivía Ellos/Ellas vivían

19. Imperfect Irregulars
• There are three Spanish irregular imperfects:
ser (to be), ir (to go), and ver (to see).
• These are high frequency verbs and should be
learned cold.
• The imperfect irregulars can be found here:
http://www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/
spanish_imperfect_tense_2 and/or p. 58 in
the grammar.

20. Translating the Spanish Imperfect
• The Spanish imperfect translates best as either
the English past progressive or as a stative verb of
indeterminate duration or as a “situation setting”
past tense verb or as “used to.”
• Examples:
– Yo iba al mercado. (I was going to the store).
– Juan hablaba inglés.(Juan used to speak English).
– Había una vez una muchacha muy inteligente. (There
was once a very intelligent girl).