Regular and Irregular Verbs in the Indefinite Preterite

The regular verbs of the indefinite preterite use two sets of conjugations for the three types of verbs, and there are just a few fully irregular verbs. Let's learn more about it.

Reviewing the Uses of the Preterite

Rule 1. The preterite is used to narrate a series of events in the past or for events that have a concrete beginning and end. It is also used when you know specifying the end of the activity is important.

Form of Regular Verbs in the Preterite

Rule 2. For verbs ending in -ar, add the following endings to their stem for each person respectively:

Rule 3. For verbs ending in -er and -ir, add the following endings to their stem for each person respectively:

Note: It is very important that you add the accent mark to the yo, él, ella, and usted forms.

Rule 3. In -ar and -ir verbs, the preterite and the present tense forms of nosotros are identical. In this case, pay attention to the context to determine if it is referring to the present or past.

Irregular Verbs in the Preterite

Rule 4. There are four completely irregular verbs in the preterite. These are ser, ir, dar, and ver.

* The verbs ir and estar are conjugated exactly the same in the preterite.

There are two other irregular verbs that change only their root in the preterite. However, we will cover this in another entry.