Share a Story in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to share a story in Spanish! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• talk about everyday experiences in the past

• talk about one’s feelings

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Adjectives

Spanish	English
aliviado	relieved
curioso	strange
puntual	punctual
siguiente	next

examples
Me sentí muy aliviado. I felt really relieved.
Me contó una historia muy curiosa. He told me a really strange story.
No pude ser puntual. I couldn't be punctual.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el bebé	baby
la carpeta	folder
el pobrecito, la pobrecita	poor thing
los gemelos	twins

examples
Además, tuvo dos bebés. Additionally, he had two babies.
Me dejé mi carpeta en el metro. I forgot my folder on the metro.

False Friend Alert!

Have you ever heard about false friends? No, we’re not talking about someone who talks behind your back—we’re talking about tricky words. False friends—also known as false cognates—are words that look the same in two different languages but have very different meanings. In this lesson, you learned the false friend carpeta. What English word does carpeta look like. Carpet, right? Well, it doesn’t mean that! Remember:

Carpeta is:

folder

carpet

Noun Phrase

Spanish	English
la noción del tiempo	track of time

examples
Perdí la noción del tiempo. I lost track of time.

This phrase is frequenly used with the verb perder (to lose).

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Contar

Contar(to tell [information]) is an -ar verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	conté	I told
tú	contaste	you told	informal singular you
vos	contaste	you told	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	contó	he, she told
usted	contó	you told	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	contamos	we told
vosotros, vosotras	contasteis	you told	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	contaron	they told
ustedes	contaron	you told	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Dejar

Dejar(to forget, to leave) is an -ar verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	dejé	I forgot
tú	dejaste	you forgot	informal singular you
vos	dejaste	you forgot	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	dejó	he, she forgot
usted	dejó	you forgot	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	dejamos	we forgot
vosotros, vosotras	dejasteis	you forgot	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	dejaron	they forgot
ustedes	dejaron	you forgot	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Encontrar

Encontrar(to find) is an -ar verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	encontré	I found
tú	encontraste	you found	informal singular you
vos	encontraste	you found	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	encontró	he, she found
usted	encontró	you found	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	encontramos	we found
vosotros, vosotras	encontrasteis	you found	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	encontraron	they found
ustedes	encontraron	you found	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Encontrarse

Encontrarse(to run into) is an -ar pronominal verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me encontré	I ran into
tú	te encontraste	you ran into	informal singular you
vos	te encontraste	you ran into	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se encontró	he, she ran into
usted	se encontró	you ran into	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos encontramos	we ran into
vosotros, vosotras	os encontrasteis	you ran into	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se encontraron	they ran into
ustedes	se encontraron	you ran into	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Hacer

Hacer(to do, to make) is a stem-changing verb in the preterite. That means that its "stem," ha, changes to hi in all forms.

In the él, ella and usted forms of hacer in the preterite, the c changes to a z.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	hice	I did, made
tú	hiciste	you did, made	informal singular you
vos	hiciste	you did, made	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	hizo	he, she did, made
usted	hizo	you did, made	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	hicimos	we did, made
vosotros, vosotras	hicisteis	you did, made	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	hicieron	they did, made
ustedes	hicieron	you did, made	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Note that none of the forms of the verb hacer take an accent in the preterite.

Mirar

Mirar(to look at) is an -ar verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	miré	I looked at
tú	miraste	you looked at	informal singular you
vos	miraste	you looked at	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	miró	he, she looked at
usted	miró	you looked at	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	miramos	we looked at
vosotros, vosotras	mirasteis	you looked at	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	miraron	they looked at
ustedes	miraron	you looked at	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Pasar

Pasar(to happen) is an -ar verb that is regular in the preterite.

Note that pasar behaves like gustar. With gustar, the subject of the sentence is the thing being liked, while the thing doing the liking is expressed via an indirect object.

In this case, of course, the subject is the thing that happened, while the person experiencing the event is expressed via an indirect object.

This table refers to considering a singular event. If you're talking about more than one event, use pasaron**.

Conjugation	Translation	Notes
me pasó	happened to me
te pasó	happened to you	informal singular you
te pasó	happened to you	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
le pasó	happened to him/her
le pasó	happened to you	formal singular you
nos pasó	happened to us
os pasó	happened to you	informal plural you (in Spain)
les pasó	happened to them
les pasó	happened to you	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Perder

Perder(to lose) is an -er verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	perdí	I lost
tú	perdiste	you lost	informal singular you
vos	perdiste	you lost	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	perdió	he, she lost
usted	perdió	you lost	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	perdimos	we lost
vosotros, vosotras	perdisteis	you lost	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	perdieron	they lost
ustedes	perdieron	you lost	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Perderse

Perderse(to get lost) is an -er pronominal verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me perdí	I got lost
tú	te perdiste	you got lost	informal singular you
vos	te perdiste	you got lost	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se perdió	he, she got lost
usted	se perdió	you got lost	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos perdimos	we got lost
vosotros, vosotras	os perdisteis	you got lost	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se perdieron	they got lost
ustedes	se perdieron	you got lost	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Don’t get lost when you see the verb perder! As you saw in this lesson, perder can mean:

• to miss (a train, a flight, etc.)

• to get lost (when used as a pronominal verb)

• to lose an object

Quedar

Quedar(to turn out) is an -ar verb that is regular in the preterite.
When quedar is used to mean to turn out, it tends to be used in the third-person singular: quedó or third-person plural quedaron.

Querer

Querer(to want) is a stem-changing verb in the preterite. That means that its "stem," que, changes to quis in all forms.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	quise	I wanted
tú	quisiste	you wanted	informal singular you
vos	quisiste	you wanted	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	quiso	he, she wanted
usted	quiso	you wanted	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	quisimos	we wanted
vosotros, vosotras	quisisteis	you wanted	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	quisieron	they wanted
ustedes	quisieron	you wanted	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Note that the yo and él, ella, usted forms of querer in the preterite do not have accent marks.

Regañar

Regañar(to scold) is an -ar verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	regañé	I scolded
tú	regañaste	you scolded	informal singular you
vos	regañaste	you scolded	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	regañó	he, she scolded
usted	regañó	you scolded	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	regañamos	we scolded
vosotros, vosotras	regañasteis	you scolded	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	regañaron	they scolded
ustedes	regañaron	you scolded	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Tocar

Tocar(to have to) is an -ar verb that is irregular in the yo form of the preterite.
When tocar is used to mean to have to, it tends to be used in the third-person singular: tocó or third-person plural tocaron.

Just like we already saw with perder, the verb tocar has many different meanings! You’ve already learned in previous lessons that tocar can mean to touch or to play (an instrument). It can also mean to have to! For example:

examples
Me tocó esperar mucho tiempo. I had to wait a long time.

Verb Phrases

In this skill, you learn the following verb phrases!

Ayudar A

Ayudar a(to help) is an -ar verb phrase that is regular in the preterite.

Ayudar a is followed by an infinitive verb.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	ayudé a	I helped
tú	ayudaste a	you helped	informal singular you
vos	ayudaste a	you helped	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	ayudó a	he, she helped
usted	ayudó a	you helped	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	ayudamos a	we helped
vosotros, vosotras	ayudasteis a	you helped	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	ayudaron a	they helped
ustedes	ayudaron a	you helped	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Darse Prisa

Darse prisa(to hurry) is a pronominal -ar irregular verb phrase in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me di^ prisa^	I hurried
tú	te diste prisa	you hurried	informal singular you
vos	te diste prisa	you hurried	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se dio^ prisa^	he, she hurried
usted	se dio^ prisa^	you hurried	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos dimos prisa	we hurried
vosotros, vosotras	os disteis prisa	you hurried	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se dieron prisa	they hurried
ustedes	se dieron prisa	you hurried	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Ponerse Al Día

Ponerse al día(to catch up) is a reflexive stem-changing -er verb in the preterite. That means that its "stem," pon, changes to pus in all forms.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me puse al día	I caught up
tú	te pusiste al día	you caught up	informal singular you
vos	te pusiste al día	you caught up	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se puso al día	he, she caught up
usted	se puso al día	you caught up	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos pusimos al día	we caught up
vosotros, vosotras	os pusisteis al día	you caught up	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se pusieron al día	they caught up
ustedes	se pusieron al día	you caught up	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

The Preterite

Regular Spanish Preterite Forms

There are only two sets of endings for regular preterite verbs, one for -ar verbs and one for both -er and -ir verbs. To conjugate a regular verb in the preterite tense, simply remove the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, or -ir) and add the preterite ending that matches the subject. Check out the table of regular preterite endings below.

Subject	-ar Verbs	-er and -ir Verbs
yo	-é	-í
tú	-aste	-iste
él, ella, usted	-ó	-ió
nosotros	-amos	-imos
vosotros	-asteis	-isteis
ellos, ellas, ustedes	-aron	-ieron

Irregular and Stem-Changing Verbs in the Preterite

Note that some verbs, like many of those we saw in this lesson, are irregular or stem-changing in the preterite! Learn more about irregular verbs, spelling changes, and stem-changing preterite verbs in this article.

When Do We Use the Preterite?

Specific Times in the Past

We use the preterite to describe actions completed at a point in the past, especially those that occurred on specific days or dates, at specific times, and during specific time periods. For example, we often use the preterite with the following phrases:

• al final

• el otro día

• finalmente

• luego

We also use the preterite to talk about beginnings and ends of events in the past.

Phrases

Here are some of the phrases used in these lessons!

Spanish	English
Al final, todo quedó en un susto.	Everything turned out fine in the end./ In the end, it was no big deal.
menos mal	thank goodness
no me digas	no way
qué lástima	what a shame

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Carlota:

¿Sabes que me pasó el otro día, Carlos? Me encontré con Juan en el metro.

Do you know what happened to me the other day, Carlos? I ran into Juan on the metro.

Manolín:

¿Ah sí? ¿Y qué te dijo?

Oh yeah? What did he say to you?

Carlota:

Nos pusimos al día rápidamente. ¡Me contó una historia muy curiosa!

We caught up quickly. He told me a really strange story!

Manolín:

¡No me digas!

No way!

Carlota:

Sí. Perdí la noción del tiempo. No miré la hora. ¡Perdí el siguiente tren!

Yeah. I lost track of time. I didn't look at the time. I missed the next train!

Manolín:

¡Qué lástima!

What a shame!

Want to learn more about how to share a story in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

• How to Write a Personal Narrative in Spanish

• "Dos Oruguitas"

• Using Transition Words in Spanish