The Spanish preterite indicative tense is used when talking about an event that took place in the past at a specific time, or one that was completed.
| Yo hablé enfrente de la clase el viernes. | I spoke in front of the class on Friday. |
The following charts show the verb “endings” for all regular verbs in the Preterite Indicative Tense.
Remember: these verb charts are only a tool to use while one is learning the language. In other words, one must eventually forget the verb chart and it must become second nature.
| Personal Pronoun | Ending | Example (hablar) |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | -é | hablé |
| Tu | -aste | hablaste |
| El/Ella | -ó | habló |
| Nosotros | -amos | hablamos |
| Vosotros | -asteis | hablasteis |
| Ellos/Ellas | -aron | hablaron |
| Personal Pronoun | Ending | Example (compartir) |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | -í | compartí |
| Tu | -iste | compartiste |
| El/Ella | ió | compartió |
| Nosotros | -imos | compartimos |
| Vosotros | -isteis | compartisteis |
| Ellos/Ellas | -ieron | compartieron |
| Personal Pronoun | Ending | Example (comer) |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | -ó | comó |
| Tu | -iste | comiste |
| El/Ella | ío | comío |
| Nosotros | -imos | comimos |
| Vosotros | -isteis | comisteis |
| Ellos/Ellas | -ieron | comieron |
Spanish infinitives are conjugated by dropping the ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and adding a new ending, thus creating a new word. The ending identifies:
1) the tense - when the action of the verb is taking place; and
2) the person - who is performing the action of the verb.