Discussing Past Events in Spanish - Exercises

Practice the preterite tense forms of regular verbs

Lesson Transcript

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Mis colegas en una fonda cerca de la oficina.

comieron

Mis colegas comieron en una fonda cerca de la oficina.

"My colleagues ate at a diner near the office."

We use comieron in this sentence because it's the third-person plural form of comer in the preterite tense, used to describe a completed action in the past—something the colleagues did at a specific time.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Remember, we are practicing the preterite tense. Ready?

tarde al concierto porque perdí el autobús.

Llegué

Llegué tarde al concierto porque perdí el autobús.

"I arrived late to the concert because I missed the bus."

We use llegué in this sentence because it's the first-person singular form of llegar in the preterite tense, used to show that the speaker completed the action of arriving at a specific point in the past.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Remember, we are practicing the preterite tense. Ready?

en Oaxaca por tres años antes de mudarnos.

Vivimos

Vivimos en Oaxaca por tres años antes de mudarnos.

"We lived in Oaxaca for three years before moving."

Vivimos is used here in the preterite to show a completed action. Since the present and preterite forms of vivir for nosotros look the same, context like por tres años helps us understand it's past tense.

Unscramble the words to make a sentence.

Ready?

¿Viviste

¿Viviste alguna

¿Viviste alguna vez

¿Viviste alguna vez en

¿Viviste alguna vez en un

¿Viviste alguna vez en un pueblo

¿Viviste alguna vez en un pueblo pequeño?

"Did you ever live in a small town?"

¿Viviste alguna vez en un pueblo pequeño?

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

¿Qué (comer or comiste) en la fiesta de cumpleaños?

comiste

¿Qué comiste en la fiesta de cumpleaños?

"What did you eat at the birthday party?"

We use comiste because it's the second-person singular form of comer in the preterite tense.

It matches the subject tú — the person being asked — and refers to a completed action in the past.

We don't use comer because that's the infinitive form, meaning "to eat," not a conjugated verb. Infinitives can't stand on their own in this kind of question — we need a past-tense verb to ask what someone did.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Rodrigo (llegué or llegó) a la reunión con una hora de retraso.

llegó

Rodrigo llegó a la reunión con una hora de retraso.

"Rodrigo arrived at the meeting an hour late."

We use llegó because it's the third-person singular form of llegar in the preterite tense, and it matches the subject Rodrigo. The sentence talks about what he did at a specific moment in the past.

We don't use llegué because that's the first-person singular form — it means "I arrived." Using it would create a mismatch with the subject of the sentence.

Let's translate some sentences into Spanish.

Translate "We ate barbacoa tacos at the San Juan market." into Spanish.

Comimos, "we ate," the first-person plural form of comer in the preterite tense,

followed by

tacos, "tacos," the direct object of the verb,

de barbacoa, "of barbacoa," a descriptive phrase telling us what kind of tacos,

followed by

en, "in" or "at," a preposition of location,

el mercado, "the market," the place where the action happened,

followed by

de San Juan, "of San Juan," specifying which market.

Comimos is used here because it's a completed action in the past. It's the preterite form of comer for "we" nosotros — showing what the speakers did at a specific time and place.

Comimos tacos de barbacoa en el mercado de San Juan.

"We ate barbacoa tacos at the San Juan market."

Translate "What time did you arrive at your cousin's house?" into Spanish.

¿A qué hora, "at what time,"

followed by

llegaste, "you arrived," the second-person singular form of llegar in the preterite tense,

a, "to," a preposition showing direction or destination,

followed by

la casa, "the house," the destination,

de tu prima, "of your cousin," specifying whose house it was.

Llegaste is used here because we're asking what "you" tú did at a specific moment in the past.

It's the correct preterite form of llegar for the second-person singular.

¿A qué hora llegaste a la casa de tu prima?

"What time did you arrive at your cousin's house?"

Translate "My grandparents lived in Guadalajara when they were young." into Spanish.

Mis abuelos, "my grandparents," the subject of the sentence,

followed by

vivieron, "they lived," the third-person plural form of vivir in the preterite tense,

en Guadalajara, "in Guadalajara," indicating location,

followed by

cuando, "when," introducing the time reference,

eran, "they were," the third-person plural form of ser in the imperfect tense,

followed by

jóvenes, "young," an adjective describing what they were like at the time.

Vivieron is in the preterite tense because it describes a completed time period — the years they lived in Guadalajara.

Mis abuelos vivieron en Guadalajara cuando eran jóvenes.

"My grandparents lived in Guadalajara when they were young."

Listen to me as I speak. Which verb in the preterite tense is used in the sentences?

Llegué tarde al concierto porque perdí el autobús.

Let's listen one more time.

Llegué tarde al concierto porque perdí el autobús.

Did you hear, llegué?

Llegué, meaning "I arrived," is the first-person singular form of llegar in the preterite tense, used here to describe a completed past action — arriving late.

How about...?

¿Viviste alguna vez en un pueblo pequeño?

Let's listen one more time.

¿Viviste alguna vez en un pueblo pequeño?

Did you hear, viviste?

Viviste, meaning "you lived," is the second-person singular form of vivir in the preterite tense, used to ask about a specific completed experience.

Next…

Rodrigo llegó a la reunión con una hora de retraso.

One more time.

Rodrigo llegó a la reunión con una hora de retraso.

Did you hear, llegó?

Llegó, meaning "he arrived," is the third-person singular form of llegar in the preterite tense, describing a one-time completed action in the past.

And...

Comimos tacos de barbacoa en el mercado de San Juan.

One more time.

Comimos tacos de barbacoa en el mercado de San Juan.

Did you hear, comimos?

Comimos, meaning "we ate," is the first-person plural form of comer in the preterite tense, used here to talk about a completed group action at a specific moment.

Thank you for watching.

Now you know how to talk about something you did in the past in Spanish.

...and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway.

Nos vemos.

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