Pretérito Indefinido of regular verbs: past simple tense in Spanish (7 real examples)

The pretérito indefinido is the tense you reach for whenever you're talking about something finished and done – a specific action with a clear start and end in the past. English speakers often find it tricky at first, since every pronoun takes its own ending rather than the single past-tense form we're used to. Once the patterns click, though, it becomes second nature – and if you're learning Spanish to use around Barcelona, you'll find yourself reaching for it constantly, from talking about yesterday's plans to last month's trip.

This tense is taught as part of our A2.1 curriculum here at Speakeasy BCN – covered in week one of our Intensive 20h Course, week two of our Semi-intensive 10h Course, and week three of our Evening 4h Course.

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When is the pretérito indefinido used?

The pretérito indefinido is used to express:

• A completed action at some point or moment in the past.

• The beginning or end of an action in the past.

• An action in the past that interrupts an action that was already taking place – this involves another past tense, and if the distinction feels blurry, our guide on indefinido vs. imperfecto breaks it down.

Time words that trigger pretérito indefinido

There are some words that will make it easy to identify when to use this tense:

• Ayer, anoche, anteayer or antes de ayer
  Yesterday, last night, the day before yesterday

• La semana pasada, el mes/ año/ siglo pasado
  Last week/ month/ year/ century

• Hace… días/ semanas/ meses/ años
  Days/ weeks/ months/ years ago

• En… mes/ año
  In a month/ year

Here are some examples:

1

La semana pasada caminé hasta el Park Güell.

Last week I walked to Park Güell.

2

Anoche, Ana volvió a su piso en el Barri Gòtic a las tres de la mañana.

Last night, Anna returned to her flat in the Barri Gòtic at three in the morning.

3

Mis padres viajaron por Japón en 2002.

My parents travelled around Japan in 2002.

4

Hace dos años paseamos en barca por el Parc de la Ciutadella por primera vez.

Two years ago, we took a boat ride around Parc de la Ciutadella for the first time.

5

¿Compraste jamón en el Mercado de la Boqueria ayer?

Did you buy ham at La Boqueria market yesterday?

6

Anteayer comí unas tapas increíbles en el Barrio Gótico.

The day before yesterday I ate some incredible tapas in the Gothic Quarter.

7

El mes pasado, mis amigos salieron de fiesta en Poble Sec.

Last month, my friends went out partying in Poble Sec.

Conjugating regular verbs in pretérito indefinido in Spanish

Conjugating regular verbs in Spanish in the pretérito indefinido is quite easy as you just follow a simple formula. First, you remove the -AR, -ER or -IR endings from the verbs to find the root of the verb; for example, habl – (hablar), sal – (salir), com – (comer). Once you have the root of the verb, simply add the specific suffixes for each of the pronouns. Take note that for both -ER and -IR verbs, the suffixes are the same!

Here is a table showing examples:

If you'd rather talk about the recent past – this morning, this week – Spanish uses a different tense altogether; our guide to the pretérito perfecto covers exactly when to reach for that one instead.

Hopefully, this helps clear up any difficulties you may have with this tricky tense. Once you're comfortable here, head to our guide on pretérito indefinido of irregular verbs to complete the picture.

Ready to put this into practice?

The best way to make the pretérito indefinido stick is to use it – regularly, and with feedback. At Speakeasy BCN, this tense is part of our A2.1 curriculum: week one of our Intensive 20h Course if you want fast progress, week two of our Semi-intensive 10h Course for a lighter weekly pace, or week three of our Evening 4h Course if you're balancing study with work.

Not sure which format fits you best? Take our free online level test and find out where you stand.