Time expressions for Past Tense (Expresiones

temporales para el tiempo pasado)

We use simple past tense to talk about things that happened before the present tense,
and to better reference the time in which they happened, we can add certain words or
temporary expressions called adverbs of time to complement the sentence. The ones
most often used in the past are:

We use “last” + “time reference” to refer to the particular moment we are

pointing to, whichever is most recent or close to the present.

In Spanish, we say “el verano pasado”, “la semana pasada”, “el año pasado”;
but in English we do not use the definite article “the”, we say “last summer”,
“last week”, “last year”, we do NOT say “the last summer”, “the last week”,
“the last year”.

Ago
We use “time reference” + “ago” to show how far back in the past or how long
ago something happened.
Usamos “referencia temporal” + “ago” para mostrar qué tan atrás en el pasado o hace cuánto
sucedió algo.

Yesterday
We use “yesterday” or “yesterday + morning / at noon / afternoon / evening” to
talk about the moments of the day before today.

Usamos “yesterday” o “yesterday + morning (en la mañana) / at noon (al

mediodía) / afternoon (en la tarde) / evening (en la tarde-noche)” para hablar de los momentos
del día antes de hoy.

“Evening” is the part of the day between the end of the afternoon and the
night, and there is no exact word for this in Spanish; instead “night” can be interpreted directly as
“noche”.
Knowing this, with “evening” we use “yesterday”. With “night” instead, we say “last night”, NOT
“yesterday night”.
We also use the expression “the day before yesterday” to refer to “two days ago”, or in Spanish
“anteayer”.

“Evening” es la parte del día entre el final de la tarde y la noche, y no hay una palabra exacta para
esto en español; en cambio “night” sí puede interpretarse directamente como “noche”.
Ya sabiendo esto, con “evening” sí usamos “yesterday”. Con “night”, en cambio, decimos “last
night”, NO “yesterday night”.
También usamos la expresión “the day before yesterday” para referirnos a “hace dos días”, o en
español “anteayer”.