Spanish regular verbs in the preterite

Categories

Regular verbs are divided into 3 categories based on their ending: -ar, -er and -ir. We are going to use cantar (to sing), comer (to eat) and abrir (to open) as models.

Personal pronouns

yo

tú

él / ella / usted

nosotros / nosotras

(vosotros / vosotras)

ellos / ellas / ustedes

Cantar (to sing), pretérito perfecto

canté

cantaste

cantó

cantamos

(cantasteis)

cantaron

Comer (to eat), pretérito perfecto

comí

comiste

comió

comimos

(comisteis)

comieron

Abrir (to open), pretérito perfecto

abrí

abriste

abrió

abrimos

(abristeis)

abrieron

Notice how -er and -ir verbs have the same endings in this tense. Also, note how the first-person plural (nosotros) is identical to the present tense conjugation for -ar and -ir verbs.

Examples

Ayer comí pizza en Franky's. (Yesterday I ate pizza at Franky's.)

El lunes por la noche bailé en un club de salsa. (On Monday night I danced at a salsa club.)

El catorce de junio caminé mucho. (On June 14th I walked a lot.)

El viernes pasado a las cinco llamé a mi hermano. (Last Friday at five I called my brother.)

Progress, Vol. 2
Progress, all volumes
Spaced repetition

Cramming works for tomorrow's test but not for long-term retention. Spreading your study sessions out over days and weeks is far more effective than covering everything in one sitting.

Who are we?

We are a Spanish language school that offers grammar-intensive live Spanish classes via Zoom for adults.

Browse classes