6.3 Pretérito

The preterite tense is used to express actions or states completed in the past.

• Cierto
• Falso

The yo and Ud./él/ella forms of all three conjugations have written accents on the last syllable to show that is stressed.

• compré
• vendímos
• escribimos
• jugaste

¿Qué compraste?

• Compré una corbata.
• Nosotros compramos una bolsa.
• Tú compraste una bolsa.
• Yo compré una bolsa.

Nosotros/as forms of regular -ar and -ir in the preterite are identical to the present tense forms. Context will help you determine which tense is being used.

• Cierto
• Falso

Anoche compramos unos zapatos.

• Presente
• Pretérito

Verbs that end in -car, -gar, and -zar have a spelling change in the first person singular (yo form) in the preterite.

• buscé
• busqué
• llegé
• empezó

Except for the yo form, all other forms of -car, -gar, and -zar verbs are regular in the preterite.

• Cierto
• Falso

empezar 

• Yo empecé la clase a las 8:00 a.m.
• Yo empezé la clase a las 8:00 a.m

Yo _______ las llaves.

• buscé
• busqué

Three other verbs -creer, leer, and oir - have spelling changes in the preterite.

• Cierto
• Falso