Ayer tuve una reunión importante.
English: Yesterday I had an important meeting.
- Language
- Spanish
- Level
- A2
- Unit
- Tiempos pasados y futuros
- Practice types
- 0
What this grammar point covers
The 'pretérito indefinido' is a past tense in Spanish used to talk about actions that were completed in the past. Some common verbs have irregular forms in this tense.
When to use it
Use this tense to talk about actions that happened and finished in the past, especially when you mention when they happened (like yesterday, last week, in 2010).
Key forms
- tener: tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron
- estar: estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvisteis, estuvieron
- ir/ser: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron
- hacer: hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron
- decir: dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron
Examples
El año pasado fuimos a España.
English: Last year we went to Spain.
Ella hizo la tarea anoche.
English: She did the homework last night.
Nosotros estuvimos en casa todo el día.
English: We were at home all day.
¿Qué dijiste?
English: What did you say?
Tips
- Memorize the irregular forms, as they don't follow regular patterns.
- The endings for these verbs are different from regular '-ar', '-er', or '-ir' verbs.
- Don't use this tense for ongoing or habitual actions in the past.
Exceptions and edge cases
- Some verbs change their stem and also use different endings (e.g., 'tener' becomes 'tuve').
- The verbs 'ser' and 'ir' share the same forms in this tense.