CCEA GCSE Spanish · Grammar spine 5 of 10 — The preterite
Mini-Lesson
The preterite
The preterite is the simple past — the tense for completed actions at a specific, known time. It answers "what happened?": ayer fui a la playa (yesterday I went to the beach). This lesson builds it: regular -ar/-er/-ir endings, the ser / ir / dar irregulars, the "pretérito grave" stem verbs, and the yo-form spelling changes.
Make a guess: what does the mark in «Habló español» change?
Mission 1What can one little mark change?
Mission 2Which verb is hiding behind «fue»?
Mission 3Why did Pablo add the letter u?
Work through each screen and answer the questions as you go — some ask you to recognise the right form, some ask you to produce it by typing. Collect ⭐ stars and press Start.
What the preterite does
Completed, at a known time
Use the preterite for a past action that started and finished — a single event, or a series of events, seen as done. It usually comes with a time marker that pins it to a moment:
ayer — yesterday
anoche — last night
la semana pasada — last week
el año pasado — last year
el verano pasado — last summer
hace dos días — two days ago
What it is not: the preterite is not for describing or for "used to". A separate past tense (the imperfect) does that — you'll meet it in cluster 6. For now: if it happened once and finished, use the preterite.
Quick check
Spot the completed past
?Which sentence is in the preterite — a completed action at a specific time?
Regular verbs · Step 1
-AR verbs: the biggest family
Take the infinitive hablar (to speak), chop off -ar, and add the preterite endings. Watch the accents on yo and él:
hablar — to speak (spoke)
person
form
yo
hablé
tú
hablaste
él / ella / usted
habló
nosotros
hablamos
vosotros
hablasteis
ellos / ustedes
hablaron
Two things to notice: the accents fall on hablé ("I spoke") and habló ("he/she spoke") — drop them and you change the word. And hablamos looks identical to the present ("we speak" / "we spoke") — context decides which.
Type it
Your turn — an -AR verb
1Write the yo ("I") preterite of hablar (to speak) — "I spoke".
Hint: chop -ar, add -é (with an accent). Typing without the accent still counts — but see the proper spelling.
Regular verbs · Step 2
-ER and -IR verbs share endings
In the preterite, -er and -ir verbs take the same set of endings. Chop the ending and add: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron.
comer — to eat (ate)
comí
comiste
comió
comimos
comisteis
comieron
vivir — to live (lived)
viví
viviste
vivió
vivimos
vivisteis
vivieron
Accents again: on comí / comió and viví / vivió. The two tables are letter-for-letter the same after the stem — learn one set of endings, cover both families.
Sort it
Pick the preterite form
Choose the correct preterite form for each verb and person.
Mission 1 check
What can one little mark change?
?Pablo writes about his sister Ana: «Estudió en Sevilla.» What does it mean?
Type it
Your turn — an -ER verb
2Write the él/ella ("he/she") preterite of comer (to eat) — "he ate".
Hint: the "he/she" ending for -er/-ir verbs is -ió (with an accent).
Mission 2 of 3
Which verb is hiding behind «fue»?
Make a guess: how can you tell which verb each «fue» is?
The core irregulars
ser, ir and dar
Three everyday verbs break the pattern. The first two are the same word twice over:
ser — to be (was)
fui
fuiste
fue
fuimos
fuisteis
fueron
ir — to go (went)
fui
fuiste
fue
fuimos
fuisteis
fueron
dar — to give (gave)
di
diste
dio
dimos
disteis
dieron
ser and ir are IDENTICAL in the preterite — fui, fuiste, fue… Context tells you which: Fui a Madrid = "I went to Madrid"; Fue difícil = "It was difficult". dar borrows the -er/-ir endings but takes no accents: di, dio (not dí, dió).
Quick check
What does "fui" mean?
?On its own, the preterite form fui can be…
Type it
Your turn — ir in the past
3Write the yo ("I") preterite of ir (to go) — "I went".
Hint: same word as "I was" — one short three-letter form, no accent.
The "pretérito grave" group
Irregular-stem verbs
A big group of common verbs takes a changed stem and one special set of endings — the same for all three verb types, and crucially with no accents:
new stem + -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieronno accent on the "yo" or "él" forms — that's the giveaway
tener → stem tuv- (to have → had)
person
form
yo
tuve
tú
tuviste
él / ella / usted
tuvo
nosotros
tuvimos
vosotros
tuvisteis
ellos / ustedes
tuvieron
Learn the stems — the endings above never change:
tener → tuv- (tuve…) · estar → estuv- (estuve…)
poder → pud- (pude…) · poner → pus- (puse…)
querer → quis- (quise…) · venir → vin- (vine…)
hacer → hic- (hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron) — c→z in the "él" form so it stays "th/s"‑soft
decir → dij- (dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron) — the "ellos" ending is -jeron, no i
traer → traj- (traje… trajeron) — same -jeron quirk
Two spellings to burn in:hacer gives hizo ("he did/made"), not hició; and decir gives dijeron ("they said"), not dijieron.
Quick check
The él form of hacer
?You want "he did his homework" — the él preterite of hacer. Which is right?
Mission 2 check
Which verb is hiding behind «fue»?
?Marta writes: «El sábado fuimos al cine. La película fue aburrida.» Which verbs are «fuimos» and «fue» from?
Quick check
Find the stem verb
?Which is the correct yo preterite of tener (to have) — "I had"?
Type it
Your turn — a stem verb
4Write the yo ("I") preterite of tener (to have) — "I had".
Hint: stem tuv- + the accent-free ending -e.
Quick check
Choose the correct form
?Which is the correct preterite of comer (to eat) for yo — "I ate"?
Mission 3 of 3
Why did Pablo add the letter u?
Make a guess: why did Pablo add a u to «jugué»?
Spelling-change -AR verbs Higher
The "yo" spelling swaps
Some regular -ar verbs change spelling in the yo form only, to keep the sound of the infinitive. Everything else in the table is completely regular:
ending → yo
example
-car → -qué
buscar → busqué
-gar → -gué
llegar → llegué · jugar → jugué · pagar → pagué
-zar → -cé
empezar → empecé · cruzar → crucé
Only "yo" changes. The rest stay regular: llegaste, llegó, llegamos, llegasteis, llegaron. These carry extra credit at Higher, but even at Foundation they're worth knowing — llegar and empezar are everywhere.
Type it
Your turn — a spelling swap
5Write the yo ("I") preterite of llegar (to arrive) — "I arrived". Higher
Hint: -gar becomes -gué in the "yo" form (the u keeps the g hard).
3rd-person -IR stem change Higher
él / ellos vowel swaps
Some -ir verbs change their stem vowel — but only in the él/ella and ellos/ellas forms. Everywhere else they're regular:
e → i · pedir (asked for)
pedí
pediste
pidió
pedimos
pedisteis
pidieron
o → u · dormir (slept)
dormí
dormiste
durmió
dormimos
dormisteis
durmieron
e → i · preferir (preferred)
preferí
preferiste
prefirió
preferimos
preferisteis
prefirieron
Only the 3rd persons change:pidió / pidieron, durmió / durmieron, prefirió / prefirieron. The "I / you / we" forms keep the original vowel. A Higher-tier detail worth recognising in reading.
Sort it
Regular vs irregular preterite
Does each infinitive take the regular preterite endings, or is it irregular in the past?
Regular preterite
Irregular preterite
Mission 3 check
Why did Pablo add the letter u?
?Marta writes: «Ayer pagé la cuenta.» Her friend corrects it to «Ayer pagué la cuenta.» Why does «pagué» need the u?
Game · Match
Match the infinitive to its "yo" preterite
Tap an infinitive on the left, then tap its "I" past form on the right.
INFINITIVE
hablar
comer
ir
tener
hacer
estar
"YO" PRETERITE
tuve
hablé
hice
fui
estuve
comí
Recap
Your preterite toolkit
What it's for: completed actions at a specific/known time — "what happened". Markers: ayer, anoche, la semana pasada, el año pasado, hace dos días.
Yo spelling swaps:buscar→busqué, llegar→llegué, empezar→empecé.
3rd-person -ir swaps:pidió, durmió, prefirió (and their -ieron).
Next cluster contrasts this with the imperfect — but the preterite is the backbone of "what happened". Press Finish to see your score.
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Next in the spine: The imperfect & preterite vs imperfect — describing the past vs telling what happened. Then lock this in with the Evaluate confidence quiz.