Past tense verbs

Use the preterite tense to talk about what has already happened or actions that have been completed. It is often used with specific time frames, eg yesterday, last year.

Irregular verbs don’t follow the usual pattern in the preterite tense. 'Ser' and 'ir' are conjugated in the same way in the preterite tense.

The imperfect tense is used to talk about what someone used to do, what used to happen or what something used to be like. Most Spanish verbs are regular in the imperfect tense.

Use the perfect tense to talk about something that has been done or has happened recently. Form the perfect tense using the auxiliary verb 'haber' and a past participle.

The perfect tense is made of the verb 'haber' and a past participle. Some verbs have irregular past participles, such as 'dicho' (said), 'hecho' (done) and 'visto' (seen).