Simple Past (Pretérito Indefinido): Regular Verbs

Welcome to your lesson on the Pretérito Indefindo, often called the Simple Past tense in Spanish. 🇪🇸

This tense is one of the most common ways to talk about the past. It describes actions that were completed at a specific, finished point in time. Think of it as a snapshot of a past event. The action started, finished, and is now over. In English, this corresponds to the simple past, like 'I talked', 'she ate', or 'they lived'.

To help you identify when to use it, look for certain time expressions that signal a completed past action:
➡️ ayer (yesterday)
➡️ anoche (last night)
➡️ anteayer (the day before yesterday)
➡️ la semana pasada (last week)
➡️ el mes pasado (last month)
➡️ el año pasado (last year)
➡️ hace dos días/tres años (two days/three years ago)
➡️ en 1999 (in 1999)

✨ How to Form the Pretérito Indefinido with Regular Verbs

The process is straightforward: take the infinitive form of the verb (e.g., hablar, comer, vivir), remove the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir), and add the corresponding past tense ending.

Let's look at the three groups of regular verbs.

📌 1. Regular -AR Verbs
For verbs ending in -ar, you add these endings:

• yo: -é
• tú: -aste
• él/ella/usted: -ó
• nosotros/as: -amos
• vosotros/as: -asteis
• ellos/ellas/ustedes: -aron

✅ Example with COMPRAR (to buy):

• (yo) compré - I bought
• (tú) compraste - you bought
• (él) compró - he bought
• (nosotros) compramos - we bought
• (vosotros) comprasteis - you (pl.) bought
• (ellos) compraron - they bought

Ejemplo en una frase: Ayer compré un libro nuevo. (Yesterday I bought a new book.)

‼️ Important Note: Pay close attention to the accent marks on the yo (-é) and él/ella/usted (-ó) forms. They are essential for pronunciation and distinguishing the past tense from the present tense. For example, compro (I buy) vs. compró (he bought).

📌 2. Regular -ER and -IR Verbs
Here is some great news! Regular verbs ending in -er and -ir share the exact same set of endings in the Pretérito Indefinido. You learn one set for two verb groups!

For verbs ending in -er and -ir, you add these endings:

• yo: -í
• tú: -iste
• él/ella/usted: -ió
• nosotros/as: -imos
• vosotros/as: -isteis
• ellos/ellas/ustedes: -ieron

✅ Example with COMER (to eat, -er):

• (yo) comí - I ate
• (tú) comiste - you ate
• (ella) comió - she ate
• (nosotros) comimos - we ate
• (vosotros) comisteis - you (pl.) ate
• (ellas) comieron - they ate

Ejemplo: Anoche comimos pizza. (Last night we ate pizza.)

✅ Example with VIVIR (to live, -ir):

• (yo) viví - I lived
• (tú) viviste - you lived
• (usted) vivió - you (formal) lived
• (nosotros) vivimos - we lived
• (vosotros) vivisteis - you (pl.) lived
• (ustedes) vivieron - you (pl.) lived

Ejemplo: Vivieron en Argentina por cinco años. (They lived in Argentina for five years.)

💡 A Quick Tip on 'Nosotros'
For -ar and -ir verbs, the nosotros/as form is the same in the present tense and the Pretérito Indefinido (hablamos, vivimos). You will always understand the tense from the context and the time expressions used in the sentence.

This lesson focuses only on regular verbs. Be aware that many very common verbs are irregular in this tense, and we will cover them in future lessons. For now, focus on mastering these three regular patterns. ¡A practicar!