9.2.1: Gramática

Voces en camino: Voces en vuelo (Intermediate Spanish) · LibreTexts

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    You have learned about the preterit in 8.2 of Voces en camino - Voces en marcha. We will continue reviewing the preterit tense in this section, focusing on why the preterit is used.

    I. Conjugaciones regulares

    Verbos con terminación -ar

    For verbs that end in -ar (like llevar from Isabel´s story in the En Contexto page) the preterit endings are as follows:

    Verbos con terminación -ar
    yo llevé nosotros llevamos
    tú/vos llevaste vosotros llevasteis
    él/ella/usted llevó ellos/ellas/ustedes llevaron

    Verbos con terminación -er o -ir

    For verbs that end in -er and -ir (like volver and abrir from Isabel´s story in the En Contexto page) the preterit endings are as follows:

    Verbos con terminación -er
    yo volví nosotros volvimos
    tú/vos volviste vosotros volvisteis
    él/ella/usted volvió ellos/ellas/ustedes volvieron
    Verbos con terminación -ir
    yo abrí nosotros abrimos
    tú/vos abriste vosotros abristeis
    él/ella/usted abrió ellos/ellas/ustedes abrieron

    II. Usos del pretérito

    The preterit (el pretérito) is one of the two simple past tenses in Spanish. Review Isabel´s story from the 9.2 En contexto: Hablando del pasado textbook page for the following uses of the preterit tense:

    1. Completed actions in the past (one-time occurrences)

    Modelo:

    • "...lo llevé a un concierto" - I took him to a concert (one-time event)
    • "le pedí a mi hermano si podía manejar" - I asked my brother if he could drive (single request)
    • "Me contestó que sí" - He answered yes (one response)
    • "Me desmayé" - I fainted (one-time occurrence)

    2. Past actions that happened at a specific moment in time (these actions have a clear beginning and end)

    Modelo:

    • "Hoy les voy a contar de la vez que tuve un accidente de carro." - Today I'm going to tell you about the time I had a car accident (specific time)
    • "Cuando desperté" - When I woke up (specific moment)
    • "En eso, él giró el volante" - At that moment, he turned the steering wheel (precise moment in time)

    3. Narrating series of past actions (timeline or sequence of events in the past)

    Modelo:

    • "él giró el volante" (he turned the steering wheel)
    • "El carro se desvió" (the car swerved)
    • "empezó a irse hacia el medio" (it started going toward the middle)
    • "volvimos a pegar con otro bache" (we hit another bump)
    • "El carro dio cinco vueltas" (the car flipped five times)

    Using sequencing words can help order the events in a story:

    • primero, segundo
    • luego
    • después
    • finalmente

    III. Expresiones del tiempo

    There are some time expressions that will help you identify when to use the preterit tense.

    Expresiones de tiempo para usar con el pretérito
    anoche last night
    anteayer the day before yesterday
    ayer yesterday
    de inmediato; inmediatamente… right away, immediately
    de repente; de golpe… all of a sudden, suddenly
    el año pasado; el mes pasado; la semana pasada last year, last month, last week
    entonces; luego… then, next
    hace x años/días/meses X years/days/months ago
    primero; finalmente… first of all, finally
    repentinamente; súbitamente; bruscamente… suddenly, abruptly, brusquely
    un día; una mañana; una tarde… one day, one morning, one evening
    una vez one time
    el otro día the other day

    This page titled 9.2.1: Gramática was last modified on Sun, 12 Apr 2026 20:47:55 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Amanda Hadley and Kelsey Harper.