El pretérito indefinido

This tense is all about boundaries. It looks at the past as a finished box. You put an action in the box and close it. It does not matter how long it took. It only matters that it is over. If you say comí, you are done eating. There is no connection to the present moment. It is a historical fact now. It is very different from the English "I have eaten." In Spanish, this tense is for the "then," not the "now." It is the primary tense for narrating events. Imagine a photo album. Each photo is a moment in the indefinido. You arrived. You ate. You left. It moves the timeline forward. Without it, your stories would just be descriptions. It is the "what happened" of your life. Even native speakers mess this up sometimes, so don't worry if it feels a bit tricky at first. It is a very logical tense once you get the hang of it.

1. 1Start with the infinitive form of the verb.
2. 2Chop off the last two letters (-ar, -er, or -ir).
3. 3Look at who is doing the action (the subject).
4. 4Attach the correct ending from the list below.
5. 5For -ar verbs, use: -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron.
6. 6For -er and -ir verbs, use: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron.
7. 7Double-check the accent marks on the first and third person singular.
8. 8Notice that -er and -ir share the same endings. That is a gift from the grammar gods! Always remember the accent marks on the é and the ó. Accents are like the salt in your soup. A little bit changes everything. Hablo means "I speak." Habló means "he or she spoke." Do not skip them! There are also some "rebel" verbs. We call these irregulars. They do not follow the normal rules. They change their stems completely. For example, tener becomes tuv-. Hacer becomes hic-. Decir becomes dij-. These rebels are common, so you will learn them fast. Think of them as the celebrities of the verb world. They are everywhere and everyone knows them.

• Use it for actions that happened once. Me caí (I fell).
• Use it for actions with a specific time limit. Viví en Madrid por un año.
• Use it when you mention a specific date. Nací en 1995.
• Use it for a sequence of completed actions. Llegué, vi, vencí.
• Use it for sudden changes or interruptions. Empezó a llover.
• Use it in job interviews to list achievements. Lideré el proyecto.
• Use it when ordering food to say what you liked. Me encantó la cena.
• Use it for asking directions about where you went wrong. Me pasé la calle.

Imagine you are at a restaurant in Mexico City. You finished a delicious meal. You want to tell the waiter it was great. You say Me encantó la comida. You used the indefinido because the meal is over. You are describing a finished experience. Or imagine you are in a job interview. You say Trabajé en marketing por cinco años. This shows a completed period of time. It sounds professional and clear. It is the perfect tense for any "one-and-done" situation.

• Do not use it for things you did habitually. That is for the imperfecto.
• Do not use it to describe the weather in the past. "It was sunny" is usually hacía sol.
• Do not use it for your age in the past. "I was ten" is tenía diez años.
• Do not use it for ongoing background actions. "I was sleeping" is not this tense.
• Do not use it if the action is not finished. If it's still happening, use the present.
• If you find yourself saying "I used to" in English, stop! You need the imperfecto instead.

Think of the indefinido as a camera flash. It is quick and specific. If you need a long video recording of the past, use the imperfecto. Using the indefinido for a habit sounds like a robot glitching. It makes your story feel jerky and weird. Keep it for the big moments and the specific facts.

• Forgetting the accent on the é and ó. This is the number one mistake.
• Mixing up the nosotros form. For -ar and -ir verbs, it is the same as the present.
• Adding an s to the tú form like comistes. This is a very common trap.
• Confusing fui (I went) and fui (I was). They look the same but mean different things.
• Using the wrong stem for irregulars. Hací is not a word; it is hice.
• Using it for background descriptions. It makes your story feel like a list of chores.

Irregular verbs are like that one friend who never follows the plan. You just have to learn their quirks. For example, dar (to give) is di, diste, dio. It looks like an -er verb even though it ends in -ar. It is a rebel! But don't worry, the more you use them, the more natural they feel. Even native speakers might slip up on irregulars occasionally. Do not be too hard on yourself!

The biggest battle is indefinido vs imperfecto. The indefinido is a dot on the timeline. The imperfecto is a line or a fuzzy cloud. If you say estudié, you finished studying. If you say estudiaba, you were in the middle of it or did it often. Think of a movie. The indefinido is the plot. It is the car chase and the explosion. The imperfecto is the set design and the costumes. You need both to tell a great story. But the indefinido is what makes things actually happen. It is the "shutter click" of the past.