Pretérito

Past Tense

The term pretérito in Spanish refers to past time actions, i.e. actions that are placed in a moment prior to the moment of speaking. There are preterite tenses in Spanish both in the indicative and the subjunctive.

Indicative:

El Pretérito Indefinido

El Pretérito Perfecto

El Pretérito Imperfecto

El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto

El Pretérito Anterior

Subjunctive:

El Pretérito Perfecto Subjuntivo

El Pretérito Imperfecto Subjuntivo

El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo

 

Here are some examples with different preterite tenses:

Ella estaba enfadada con su madre.She was cross with her mother.

Rafael había puesto los papeles en el escritorio.Rafael had put the papers on the desk.

To see alternative names for these tenses you can review our handy table: Spanish Tense Names 

Related lesson: Tense

Clever stuff happening!