Past Tense
The term pretérito in Spanish refers to past time actions, i.e. actions that are placed in a moment prior to the moment of speaking. There are preterite tenses in Spanish both in the indicative and the subjunctive.
Indicative:
Subjunctive:
El Pretérito Perfecto Subjuntivo
El Pretérito Imperfecto Subjuntivo
El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo
Here are some examples with different preterite tenses:
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.
To see alternative names for these tenses you can review our handy table: Spanish Tense Names
Related lesson: Tense
