1 Intro to the Preterite – Ir and Ser

Uses of the Preterite Tense

The preterite tense in Spanish is the recording past. It reports what took place at some point in time and expresses actions or states started and completed in the past or with a finite duration in the past.

Examples:

Ayer comimos a las seis.   Yesterday we ate at 6.  (start of the action)

Ustedes llegaron a las seis.   You all arrived at 6.  (end of the action)

Viví cuatro años en Cuba.   I lived in Cuba for 4 years.  (all the action which took place in a finite duration)

Mi abuelo fumó toda su vida y murió de cáncer.   My grandfather smoked his whole life and died of cancer.  (A summary of many repeated actions with a finite duration)

El año pasado llovió poco.   Last year it rained very little.  (A summary of many repeated actions with a finite duration)

Preterite tense of the verb “ir”.

We first look at the conjugation of the verb “ir” in the preterite tense. Note that the verb “ser” is also conjugated in the same way.

To talk about why you went to a particular location, use the construction below.

Ir a + place + a + infinitive

eg:  Fui al instituto a estudiar. = I went to school to study.

Typical Past tense time expressions