Yesterday you did a lot: you called a friend, ate lunch, maybe visited a museum. Ready to tell that story in Spanish? In this lesson, you’ll master the preterite (el pretérito) for regular -AR/-ER/-IR verbs so you can talk about completed actions in the past with confidence.

¿Qué es el pretérito? The preterite (el pretérito) is the Spanish past tense used for finished, completed actions. Think: “I called,” “she arrived,” “we studied.” In Spanish: “Llamé,” “ella llegó,” “estudiamos.”

Regular -AR verbs: hablé, trabajaste, estudió Good news: regular -AR verbs follow a neat pattern. Add these endings to the stem (remove -ar):

• yo: -é → hablé (I spoke)
• tú: -aste → hablaste (you spoke)
• él/ella/usted: -ó → habló (he/she/you formal spoke)
• nosotros/-as: -amos → hablamos
• vosotros/-as: -asteis → hablasteis
• ellos/ellas/ustedes: -aron → hablaron

Try it with trabajar (to work) and estudiar (to study): trabajé, trabajaste, trabajó…; estudié, estudiaste, estudió…

Ayer yo por teléfono con mi mamá.

Ayer nosotros en casa.

Regular -ER and -IR verbs: comí, viviste, escribió For -ER and -IR verbs, the endings are the same:

• yo: -í → comí, viví
• tú: -iste → comiste, viviste
• él/ella/usted: -ió → comió, vivió
• nosotros/-as: -imos → comimos, vivimos
• vosotros/-as: -isteis → comisteis, vivisteis
• ellos/ellas/ustedes: -ieron → comieron, vivieron

Tú pizza anoche.

Time marker mini-vocab To sound natural, use clear time markers. Memorize a few and drop them into your sentences.

anteayer = the day before yesterday (literally “before yesterday”). Use it if you want to be precise about time.

Yo como pizza ayer. → Yo comí pizza ayer. Use the preterite (comí) with past time markers like ayer. Yo hable con mi madre. → Yo hablé con mi madre. Accent needed on the preterite yo form: hablé. Ayer nosotros trabajábamos en casa. → Ayer nosotros trabajamos en casa. For a finished action yesterday, use preterite (trabajamos), not imperfect (trabajábamos).

Quick practice: choose the right ending Make sure you can spot and form the preterite quickly in everyday contexts.

Culture tip: telling time in Spanish When talking about past events, Spanish speakers often use specific time anchors.

• Formal schedules (transport, events) commonly use the 24-hour clock: a las 18:00 (at 6 pm).
• In conversation you’ll hear common anchors: ayer por la tarde (yesterday afternoon), anoche (last night), el fin de semana pasado (last weekend).
• Keep it clear: “Ayer a las ocho comí” is simple and natural — yesterday at eight, I ate.

Wrap-up + mini checklist You’ve learned the regular preterite endings:

• -AR: é, aste, ó, amos, asteis, aron
• -ER/-IR: í, iste, ió, imos, isteis, ieron

And you can pair them with time markers like ayer, anoche, la semana pasada to tell complete stories.

Checklist:

• Can you say 3 things you did ayer?
• Do you remember accents (hablé, comió, viví)?
• Can you connect actions with luego and después?

Now it’s your turn: escribe 3 frases sobre tu día de ayer. For example: “Ayer trabajé, después comí con mi amiga, y por la noche descansé.” ¡Buen trabajo! Keep practicing — short, clear sentences win in real conversations.