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When to use the preterit tense
• The Spanish preterite tense is used to describe completed actions in
the past.
• Use the preterite tense to talk about completed actions at specific times
in the past.
• The preterite is used when the past action has a definite beginning and
definite end.

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When to use to preterit tense
• The preterite tense is used if the past action had a definite beginning
and definite end and is often used with phrases that give a specific
time frame, eg:
• ayer (yesterday)
• anteayer (the day before yesterday)
• anoche (last night)
• el año pasado (last year)
• el mes pasado (last month)
• la semana pasada (last week)
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 What are the endings?
• Most verbs are regular in the preterite. This means that they
follow a pattern.
• For regular verbs, the preterite is formed by removing the -ar / -
ir / -er endings from the infinitive and adding the following
comer (to eat) recibir (to receive)
preterite endings:
hablar (to speak)
(yo) hablé comí recibí
(tú) hablaste comiste recibiste
(él/ella/usted) habló comió recibió

(nosotros/as) hablamos comimos recibimos

(vosotros/as) hablasteis comisteis recibisteis

(ellos/ellas/ustedes) hablaron comieron recibieron

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