The preterite presents a past action as finished and closed. The action is viewed from the outside, as a complete event, not as an ongoing process. That is why it appears in narratives, news, and memories when the speaker wants to mark that something happened and is now finished. In contrast to Imperfect, the preterite does not describe background, habit, or open duration.

It is used with moments of the past that are well delimited: ayer, anoche, la semana pasada, el lunes, en 2019, a las ocho. It also appears with unique, completed events that the speaker situates at a specific point in time: Llegué tarde, Viajamos en marzo, Firmaron el contrato. When the sentence signals a clear temporal closure, the preterite fits naturally.

When a story advances with several events one after another, the preterite marks each step. First one thing happened, then another, and then one more. Entré en casa, dejé las llaves y llamé a mi madre presents a complete sequence. Each verb pushes the narration forward. This use is very common in tales, anecdotes, and news, where each action stands as a finished block.

The preterite also expresses a complete change of state. Se rompió la ventana, Me enamoré, La ciudad creció present the final result of a change, not its process. It also serves for finished events: a wedding, an accident, a visit, a decision. If the focus is on something that happened and ended, not on how it was developing, this tense is used. For ongoing development, one uses Past Progressive.

Verbs in -ar form the preterite with the verb root + -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron. Thus, hablar yields hablé, hablaste, habló, hablamos, hablasteis, hablaron. The root stays the same and only the endings change. Trabajé, compraste and estudiaron follow the same pattern.

Verbs in -er and -ir share the same endings: root + -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. Therefore comer yields comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis, comieron, and vivir yields viví, viviste, vivió, vivimos, vivisteis, vivieron. In -er and -ir the nosotros and vosotros forms use the same shapes as in -ar only in sound, but not in written ending.

Ser and ir have exactly the same conjugation in the preterite: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. The form is recognized by the context. Fui al mercado usually means to go; Fui profesor means to be. In this tense the normal roots s- or i- do not appear; instead the irregular group fu- appears in almost the entire conjugation.

Some very frequent verbs change stem and use their own forms throughout the preterite. Tener yields tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron. Estar yields estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvisteis, estuvieron. Poder yields pude, pudiste, pudo, pudimos, pudisteis, pudieron. Also common are hacer → hice, venir → vine, querer → quise, poner → puse. The irregularity is in the root, not in the endings of the group.

A group of verbs forms the preterite with a -j- in the root to keep the correct sound in the third person plural. Decir yields dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron. Traer yields traje, trajiste, trajo, trajimos, trajisteis, trajeron. Conducir yields conduje, condujiste, condujo, condujimos, condujisteis, condujeron. In this group, the -j- appears mainly in the yo and ellos/ellas/ustedes forms.

The preterite presents closed events; the Imperfect presents habitual actions, descriptions, and backdrops of the past. Ayer llovió denotes a finished fact. Cuando era niño, llovía mucho describes a repeated situation or background. Caminé hasta la plaza advances the story with a complete action. Caminaba por la plaza shows a scene in development. The verb form changes depending on the role the action plays within the narrative.

Some verbs change spelling to preserve the root sound before the endings -e and -i. Verbs ending in -car change c to qu in the first person: buscar → busqué. Verbs ending in -gar change g to gu: llegar → llegué. Verbs ending in -zar change z to c: empezar → empecé. The change appears only in yo; the rest of the forms follow the regular conjugation.

In many regions, especially in Spain, the recent past is often expressed with the Perfect: Hoy he comido, Esta semana he trabajado. In much of the Americas, the preterite is also very common in that context: Hoy comí, Esta semana trabajé. The choice depends on regional variety and the temporal closeness the speaker wants to mark. When the period remains open, such as hoy, esta mañana or esta semana, both forms may appear depending on the area.

pretérito perfecto compuestopretérito perfecto compuestopretérito perfecto compuesto

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Se usa menos en muchas zonas y suele sonar más marcado o formalSe usa mucho para hablar de un pasado muy cercano al presenteEn el habla cotidiana suele preferirse más el pretérito simple para acciones ya cerradas

Preferencias regionales para hablar del pasado

Region	Variant	Definition	Example
Spain	pretérito perfecto compuesto	It is used a lot to talk about a past very close to the present.	Hoy he visto un perro con gafas de sol.
Mexico	pretérito perfecto compuesto	It is used less in many areas and tends to sound more marked or formal.	Hoy he comido en una taquería espacial.
Argentina	pretérito perfecto compuesto	In everyday speech the simple past is usually preferred for actions already closed.	Hoy vi una película de pingüinos bailarines.

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