Lesson 39 – The Past Tense (Preterite)
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Review Flash
(5 minutes — say the Spanish before looking)
| English | Spanish |
|---|---|
| my head hurts | me duele la cabeza |
| I have a fever | tengo fiebre |
| where does it hurt? | ¿dónde le duele? |
| I need a doctor | necesito un médico |
| call an ambulance | llame a una ambulancia |
Lesson Goals
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Conjugate regular verbs in the preterite (past) tense
- Tell stories about specific, completed past events
- Talk about what happened during your trip
- Ask others what happened or what they did
When to Use the Preterite
The preterite is used for:
- Specific, completed events: Ayer llegué a la iglesia. (Yesterday I arrived at the church.)
- Events that happened at a specific time: El domingo oré por ella. (On Sunday I prayed for her.)
- A sequence of events: Llegué, oré, y hablé con el pastor. (I arrived, prayed, and spoke with the pastor.)
- Events with a clear beginning or end: La reunión duró dos horas. (The meeting lasted two hours.)
Preterite Conjugation: Regular Verbs
-AR Verbs (example: hablar)
| Pronoun | Ending | Hablar |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -é | hablé |
| tú | -aste | hablaste |
| usted/él/ella | -ó | habló |
| nosotros | -amos | hablamos |
| ellos/ustedes | -aron | hablaron |
Nosotros is the same in present and preterite for -AR verbs!
Hablamos can mean “we speak” (present) OR “we spoke” (preterite). Context clarifies: Ayer hablamos con el pastor. → Yesterday we spoke with the pastor.
-ER and -IR Verbs (example: comer, vivir)
| Pronoun | -ER ending | -IR ending | Comer | Vivir |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -í | -í | comí | viví |
| tú | -iste | -iste | comiste | viviste |
| usted/él/ella | -ió | -ió | comió | vivió |
| nosotros | -imos | -imos | comimos | vivimos |
| ellos/ustedes | -ieron | -ieron | comieron | vivieron |
High-Frequency Regular Preterites
| Infinitive | Yo (preterite) | English |
|---|---|---|
| hablar | hablé | I spoke |
| orar | oré | I prayed |
| visitar | visité | I visited |
| compartir | compartí | I shared |
| ayudar | ayudé | I helped |
| trabajar | trabajé | I worked |
| llegar | llegué | I arrived |
| comprar | compré | I bought |
| escuchar | escuché | I listened |
| aprender | aprendí | I learned |
| comer | comí | I ate |
| recibir | recibí | I received |
Key Irregular Preterites (Preview)
Some extremely common verbs have irregular preterite forms — these will be covered fully in Lesson 40, but here’s a preview:
| Infinitive | Preterite (yo) | English |
|---|---|---|
| ser/ir | fui | I was / I went |
| tener | tuve | I had |
| hacer | hice | I did / made |
| decir | dije | I said |
| venir | vine | I came |
| poder | pude | I was able |
| dar | di | I gave |
| ver | vi | I saw |
Story: El Informe del Día (The Day’s Report)
Al final de cada día, el equipo misionero comparte lo que hizo. Hoy habla Sara.
“Hoy fue un día increíble. Me levanté temprano y oré. Desayuné con la familia del pastor. Después, visité a tres familias en el barrio. Hablé con una señora que estaba muy triste porque su hijo está en el hospital. Oré con ella y ella lloró. Fue un momento muy sagrado.
En la tarde, ayudé en la distribución de comida en el comedor comunitario. Trabajamos cuatro horas. Servimos a más de ochenta familias. Uno de los hombres me preguntó sobre nuestra iglesia y le compartí el evangelio. No tomó una decisión hoy, pero recibió bien la conversación.
Al final del día, comí con todo el equipo y aprendí cinco palabras nuevas en español. Llegué cansada pero agradecida.”
(Today was an incredible day. I woke up early and prayed. I had breakfast with the pastor’s family. Afterward, I visited three families… I helped in the food distribution at the community dining hall. We worked four hours. We served more than 80 families. One of the men asked me about our church and I shared the gospel with him. He didn’t make a decision today, but he received the conversation well. At the end of the day, I ate with the whole team and learned five new Spanish words. I arrived tired but grateful.)
Comprehension Check:
- ¿Con quién desayunó Sara? (Who did Sara have breakfast with?)
- ¿Cuántas familias visitó? (How many families did she visit?)
- ¿Cuántas familias sirvieron en el comedor? (How many families did they serve at the dining hall?)
¡Practícalo! (Speaking Practice)
Give your own “day’s report” in Spanish. Think about a real day this week, or a hypothetical mission trip day.
Use at least eight verbs in the preterite:
- me levanté, oré, desayuné, visité, hablé, ayudé, comí, aprendí…
Speak for 90 seconds without stopping. If you get stuck on a word, keep going and come back to it.
Then practice answering these questions about that day:
- ¿Qué hiciste esta mañana?
- ¿Con quién hablaste?
- ¿Qué aprendiste?
Cultural Note
Storytelling as ministry: In Latin American oral culture, telling stories — about what happened, who was involved, what God did — is a primary form of community building and testimony. The ability to tell a story in Spanish (“Te cuento lo que pasó…”) is not just a language skill — it’s an invitation to relationship. As you grow in preterite fluency, your ability to share what you experienced, what God did, and what changed will grow proportionally. Cuéntalo. (Tell it.)
Oración
“Y Él se levantó muy de mañana, antes de amanecer.” (Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up.) — Marcos 1:35
Me levanté muy de mañana. Even the preterite tense echoes the life of Jesus.
← Lesson 38 | Next Lesson → Lesson 40: Preterite of Ser, Estar, and Ir