There are two forms of the past in Spanish.The imperfect past and the preterite. This lesson focuses on the preterite which indicates that an event took place at some point in the past and it is a completed finished action. Let's look at some examples:

caminar (to walk)

Yo caminé al parque. - I walked to the park.
Él caminó en la calle. - He walked on the street.

Yo caminé en la playa. - I walked on the beach.

correr (to run).

Yo corrí dos veces. - I ran two times.
Nosotros corrimos en el jardín. - We ran in the garden.

Nosotros corrimos hacia su casa.
- We ran toward his house.

There are many irregular verbs in the Spanish Preterite:

ir (to go)

Yo fui a Francia. - I went to France.
Él fue a México por avión. - He went to Mexico by plane.

dar (to give)

Yo di una mano. - I gave a hand.
Ellos nos lo dieron. - They gave it to us.

[ view full lesson ]