Talking about yesterday: the preterite
Ayer me levanté tarde. One tense turns your routine into a story, and the endings are more regular than they first look.
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Identify and use tenses or other structures which convey the present, past and future as appropriate to the language being studied
Key learning points
- • The two ending patterns
- • Accents matter
- • The irregulars you cannot avoid
- • Anchoring the tense
This lesson at a glance
- 30 minutes
- 25 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 25
Visual introductionPicture this
Talking about yesterday: the preterite
Ayer me levanté tarde. One tense turns your routine into a story, and the endings are more regular than they first look.
In a nutshell
Identify and use tenses or other structures which convey the present, past and future as appropriate to the language being studied
What you already know
Part 2 of 25
Before we start
What you already know
You should already know present-tense routines and reflexive pronouns.
Key words
Part 3 of 25
Key words
Words you'll need today
- el pretérito
- the preterite — completed past actions
- ayer
- yesterday
- el fin de semana pasado
- last weekend
- fui
- I went / I was (ir and ser)
- hice
- I did / I made (hacer)
Reset break
Part 4 of 25
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 6 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 5 of 25
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Regular preterite endings
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 25
Learn
The two ending patterns
-ar verbs take -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron. -er and -ir verbs share -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. Learn the yo and él forms first: those carry most of what you say.
Explore the idea
Part 7 of 25
Learn
Accents matter
Hablo means I speak; habló means he spoke. The accent is not decoration — it moves the stress and changes the person. Write them, and say them with the stress you have written.
Reset break
Part 8 of 25
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 6 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 9 of 25
Quick check
Part 10 of 25
Learning cycle
Part 11 of 25
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Irregulars and time markers
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Reset break
Part 12 of 25
Pause
That's sitting 3 of 6 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 13 of 25
Learn
The irregulars you cannot avoid
Fui (I went or I was), hice (I did), tuve (I had) and estuve (I was, temporarily) appear in almost every past account. They take no accents in the yo form, which is a useful signal that they are irregular.
Explore the idea
Part 14 of 25
Learn
Anchoring the tense
Open with a marker: ayer, el sábado pasado, hace dos semanas. Then combine tenses for range: normalmente juego al fútbol, pero ayer fui al cine y lo pasé genial.
Quick check
Part 15 of 25
Reset break
Part 16 of 25
Pause
That's sitting 4 of 6 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 17 of 25
Common mix-ups
Part 18 of 25
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Fui covers both 'I went' and 'I was' — context decides.
- Reflexive pronouns stay in the past: me levanté, not levanté me.
- Missing accents change the person, so they cost marks.
Challenge round
Part 19 of 25
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Reset break
Part 20 of 25
Pause
That's sitting 5 of 6 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Challenge round
Part 21 of 25
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Then combine ____ for range: normalmente juego al fútbol, pero ayer fui al cine y lo pasé genial.
Challenge round
Part 22 of 25
Game · Recall cards
'I ate' (comer) is...
Card 1 of 4
Exit quiz
Part 23 of 25
Exit quiz
Show what you've learned
6 questions, marked together at the end. Nothing is timed.
1. -ar yo ending in the preterite is...
2. 'hice' comes from...
3. Which is a past time marker?
4. 'comieron' means...
5. Mixing present and preterite shows...
6. 'tuve' means...
Mastery quiz
Part 24 of 25
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Talking about yesterday: the preterite
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. 'I ate' (comer) is...
2. 'habló' means...
3. 'Ayer fui al cine' means...
4. Reflexive past of levantarse (yo) is...
Lesson round-up
Part 25 of 25
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
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Ask LunaPart 1 of 25 · Watch & discover