Learn the Past tense in Spanish with examples and exercises

One of the most complicated lessons is knowing how to differentiate the past tense in Spanish. But like everything else, we get better with practice! In today’s post, we will explain all the verb tenses that are used and we will also give you some little tricks to help you remember them all. Shall we start? Keep reading to learn Spanish online! 

PAST TENSE IN SPANISH

First of all, we must remember the Spanish past tenses that exist so we can conjugate them later, which we will explain with more detail later: imperfect tense, simple past and present perfect. 

All of them are used to talk about a fact or an action that has already happened and has finished, although each verb tense differs in some nuances. 

IMPERFECT TENSE IN SPANISH

The imperfect tense is the simplest verb tense since it is used to describe actions that simply took place in the past, without being related to the future or the present. That is, actions are already completed. Specifically to: 

• Describing a situation or state in the past.
  Le gustaba pasear por la ciudad. (He liked strolling around the city.)
• Describing routines and repetitive actions from the past.
  Hablaba con ella todo el día por teléfono. (I used to talk on the phone with her every day.)
• Describing a past action whose beginning or end is not specified.
  Se pasaba el día jugando con sus hermanos. (He used to spend all day playing with his brothers.)
  
• Describing the context or setting of an action that was happening until it was interrupted by a new action. This second action will always be in the simple past or present pefect.
  Yo estaba cantando cuando la vi. (I was singing when I saw her.)

PERSONA	1ª Conjugación (-ar)  CANTAR (to sing)	2ª Conjugación (–er)  COMER (to eat)	3ª Conjugación (-ir)  VIVIR (to live)
Yo	Cantaba	Comía	Vivía
Tú	Cantabas	Comías	Vivías
Él / Ella	Cantaba	Comía	Vivía
Nosotros	Cantábamos	Comíamos	Vivíamos
Vosotros	Cantabais	Comíais	Vivíais
Ellos / Ellas	Cantaban	Comían	Vivían

Note: 

The imperfect tense in Spanish is also used with reflexive verbs, which is when an action is performed on oneself. A reflexive pronoun is used before the verb (me, te, se, nos, os, se).

Se peinaba el pelo. (She was brushing her hair.)

• Irregular verbs:

PERSONA	IR (To go)	SER (To be)	VER (To see)
Yo	Iba	Era	Veía
Tú	Ibas	Eras	Veías
Él / Ella	Iba	Era	Veía
Nosotros	Íbamos	Éramos	Veíamos
Vosotros	Ibais	Erais	Veíais
Ellos / Ellas	Iban	Eran	Veían

PAST SIMPLE TENSE IN SPANISH

The preterite tense in Spanish is also known as the past simple and is used to refer to actions in the past but, specifically to:

• Describing the context or setting of an action that was happening until it was interrupted by another new action. This second action will always be in the imperfect past tense.
  Empezó a llover cuando caminaba por la calle. (It started to rain when I was walking down the street.)
• Describing actions that have already finished from a time when we are not there.
  Me encantó conocerla. (I was pleased to meet her.)

PERSONA	1ª Conjugación (-ar) HABLAR (to speak)	2ª Conjugación (-er) APRENDER (to learn)	3ª Conjugación (-ir) SERVIR (to serve)
Yo	Hablé	Aprendí	Serví
Tú	Hablaste	Aprendiste	Serviste
Él / Ella	Habló	Aprendió	Sirvió
Nosotros	Hablamos	Aprendimos	Servimos
Vosotros	Hablasteis	Aprendisteis	Servisteis
Ellos / Ellas	Hablaron	Aprendieron	Sirvieron

Note:

The imperfect tense in Spanish is also used with reflexive verbs, which is when an action is performed on oneself. A reflexive pronoun is used before the verb (me, te, se, nos, os, se).

Se mudaron a la casa de al lado. (They moved to the house next door.)

• Irregular verbs:

INFINITIVO	RAÍZ IRREGULAR	CONJUGACIÓN (Yo, tú, él, nosotros, vosotros, ellos)
Andar (To walk)	Anduv-	Anduve, Anduviste, anduvo, anduvimos, anduvisteis, anduvieron
Caber (To fit)	Cup-	Cupe, cupiste, cupo, cupimos, cupisteis, cupieron
Dar (To give)	D-	Di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron
Decir (To say)	Dij-	Dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron
Estar (To be)	Estuv-	Estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvisteis, estuvieron
Haber (To have)	Hub-	Hube, hubiste, hubo, hubimos, hubisteis, hubieron
Hacer (To do)	Hic-/Hiz-	Hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron
Poder (can)	Pud-	Pude, pudiste, pudo, pudimos, pudisteis, pudieron
Poner (To put)	Pus-	Puse, pusiste, puso, pusimos, pusisteis, pusieron
Querer (To love)	Quis-	Quise, quisiste, quiso, quisimos, quisisteis, quisieron
Saber (To know)	Sup-	Supe, supiste, supo, supimos, supisteis, supieron
Tener (To have)	Tuv-	Tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron
Traer (To bring)	Traj-	Traje, trajiste, trajo, trajimos, trajisteis, trajeron
Venir (To come)	Vin-	Vine, viniste, vino, vinimos, vinisteis, vinieron
Ver (To see)	V-	Vi, viste, vio, vimos, visteis, vieron

• Some verbs change their stem in the third person singular and plural (-e → -i; -o → -u).
  Pedir (To ask for): Pedí, pediste, pidió, pedimos, pedimos, pedisteis, pidieron.
  
• Verbs ending in -ucir, change uc- to -uj.
  Traducir (To translate): Traduje, tradujiste, tradujo, tradujo, tradujimos, tradujisteis, tradujeron.
• Verbs ending in vowel + -er/-ir change the -i for -y in the third person singular and plural.
  Caí (To fall): Caí, caíste, cayó, caímos, caísteis, cayeron.
  
• Sometimes we have to change the last consonant of some verbs ending in -ar in the first person singular to preserve the pronunciation.
  c becomes qu → atracar – atraqué (To rob).
  g becomes gu → colgar – colgué (To hang).
  gu becomes gü → averiguar – averigüé (To figure something out).
  z becomes c → empezar – empecé (To start).
• In verbs ending in -ll/-ñ + -er/-ir, we remove the final i in the third person singular and plural.
  Bullir (To boil): Bullí, bulliste, bulló, bullimos, bullisteis, bulleron (not bullío, bullieron).
• Verbs ser and ir (to be and to go).

PERSONA	SER	IR
Yo	Fui	Fui
Tú	Fuiste	Fuiste
Él / Ella	Fue	Fue
Nosotros	Fuimos	Fuimos
Vosotros	Fuisteis	Fuisteis
Ellos / Ellas	Fueron	Fueron

PRESENT PERFECT

The present perfect in Spanish is conjugated using the auxiliary verb Haber (to have) + the past tense of the verb and is used in the following situations: 

PERSONA	HABER	PAST PARTICIPLE
Yo	He	Hablado Aprendido  Vivido
Tú	Has
Él / Ella	Ha
Nosotros	Hemos
Vosotros	Habéis
Ellos / Ellas	Han

• Actions that have been completed in the past but are seen and are related to the present (today, this morning, this week, this year, this month, this century…).
  Esta semana hemos limpiado el coche y el piso. (This week we have cleaned both the car and the apartment.)
  
  It is formed by changing the infinitive for the past ending. If it ends in -ar, it is changed to -ado; if it ends in -er/-ir, it is changed to -ido.

 

• Irregular verbs:

INFINITIVO	RAÍZ IRREGULAR
Abrir (To open)	Abierto
Componer (To compose)	Compuesto
Decir (To say)	Dicho
Descubrir (To discover)	Descubierto
Escribir (To write)	Escrito
Encubrir (To cover)	Encubierto
Hacer (To do)	Hecho
Freír (To fry)	Frito / Freído
Imprimir (To print)	Impreso / Imprimido
Morir (To die)	Muerto
Poner (To put)	Puesto
Proveer (To provide)	Provisto / Proveído
Posponer (To postpone)	Pospuesto
Resolver (To solve)	Resuelto
Suscribir (To subscribe)	Suscrito / Suscripto
Ver (To see)	Visto
Volver (To come back)	Vuelto

Now that you have learnt the grammar about the imperfect tense, the simple past and the present perfect, you can now start using the past tense in Spanish and learn Spanish online. You just need some practice to be the best and become an expert! Ready to conjugate the past tense in Spanish?

Would you like to learn more Spanish grammar? Discover the possessive adjectives and pronouns in Spanish!

EXERCISES

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