Practice your preterit sentences--Everyone invited!
This is a thread for anyone to practice their preterit tense sentences. In preparation for our chat,Skype Chat--Mar 19 - Preterit tense
Dakie will be moderating our preterit tense sentences here.
The preterit tense (el pretérito) is one of several past tenses in Spanish and it is used to describe actions completed at one point in the past or that lasted a specific amount of time in the past and are now completed. The preterit is not used to describe habitual or continuous actions in the past with no specific ending or beginning. The imperfect tense is used for these instances. If the habitual action does have a specific beginning and end, the preterit can be used.
The preterit tense is used to express:
An action that is terminated or completed at a given point in the past
An action or state that occupies a limited period of time
An action with a specific and indicated beginning or ending.
Escribí una carta. I wrote a letter.
Comimos pizza anoche. We ate pizza last night.
Here are some words that are used with the preterit. Flashcard setWords used with the preterit . Conjugation of regular ar, er and ir verbs
Watch those Tildes!
The 1st and 3rd person singular have tildes (written accents) to differentiate them from present tense conjugations.
Note: the nosotros forms for -ar and -ir verbs are the same in both preterite and present tenses: hablamos, vivimos.
Please post your sentences in English and Spanish. Thank you!
58 Answers
Y entonces, en ese momento crucial usé el pretérito en la frase.
And then, in that crucial moment I used the preterite in the sentence
My very first preterit sentence
DRUM ROLL PLEASE
Comí un pollo.
I ate a chicken.
Me desperté tarde y hallé que alguien había olvidado adelantar los relojes hoy.
I woke up late and found that someone had forgotten to set the clocks forward today.
Comí cinco caramelos.
I ate five pieces of candy.
(this time I paid attention to the topic...sorry 'bout that last one, guys)
El año pasado decidí aprender español.
Last year I decided to learn Spanish.
Anoche quemé la cena.
Last night I burnt dinner.
Barrí el suelo.
I swept the floor.
I had a bad day.
Tuve un día malo.
Ayer, quedé toda la noche al hospital con mi papá y probablemente esta noche, también.
Yesterday, I stayed all night at the hospital with my Dad and probably tonight, also.
Mi profesora de español me dijo que hay seite grupos de preterit por que preterit significa pasado. Entonces la forma "dijo" es preterit indicativo.
My Spanish teacher told me that there are seven forms of the preterit because preterit means past. Therefore, the form "told" is the indicative preterit.
¨Nací en el periodo jurásico
I was born in the jurassic period.
Nací en Los Angeles.
I was born in Los Angeles.
No soy el hombre que alguna vez fui.
I am not the man i used to be. ..
Necesito ayuda grande aquí chicos por favor.
Ayer fui a un partido de baloncesto.
Yesterday I went to a basketball game.
Conocí a muchas nueves gentes en el Internet ayer.
I met many new people yesterday on the Internet.
(Can you say "new people" like that in Spanish? Of course it means they are new to me, and not newborn babies!
Does "ayer" have to go to either the end or the start or can I put it where it is in English?)
