Pretérito

Past Tense

El pretérito refers to past time actions. Spanish past verb forms in the indicative mood include: el pretérito indefinido (or pretérito perfecto simple), el pretérito imperfecto, el pretérito perfecto, el pretérito pluscuamperfecto, el pretérito contínuo and el pretérito anterior. In the subjuntive mood there are: el pretérito imperfecto, el pretérito perfecto, el pretérito pluscuamperfecto and el pretérito anterior.

Here are some examples with different tenses that belong to the preterite:

Yo traduje un documento para el Registro Civil.I translated a document for the Registry Office.

Ella estaba enfadada con su madre.She was cross with her mother.

Rafael había puesto los papeles en el escritorio.Rafael had put the papers on the desk.

 

Related lesson: Tense

Lessons with more detail on Pretérito

Conjugate regular -ar verbs in the present perfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Perfecto)
Conjugate regular -er, -ir verbs in the present perfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Perfecto)
Use of ya in Spanish with the present perfect tense (El Pretérito Perfecto)
Using the Spanish preterite tense combined with cuando + the Spanish imperfect tense
Use Hace + length of time + que + the preterite tense in Spanish to say how long ago something happened
Using ya with the Spanish preterite tense
Let me take a look at that...