The Preterite  


Preterite Tense

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. - I walked.
El caminó. - He walked.

Yo caminé al parque. - I walked to the park.

correr (to run).

Yo corrí. - I ran.
Nosotros corrimos. - We ran.

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.

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Related Topics
preterite vs imperfect
imperfect tense
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regular verbs

irregular verbs

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