Past Tense

Past tense verbs are used in the following situations:

Express a definate action in past that is considered finished.

Hacer + expression of time + que + past tense.

Expressions of time where the past tense is used

Spanish English
Anoche Last Night
Ayer Yesterday
El otro día The other day
La semana pasada Last week
El mes pasado Last month
El año pasado Last year
El lunes pasado Last Monday
Hace una semana
(un mes, un año, un siglo)
One week ago

Regular Verbs

Verbs that end in 'AR', 'ER' and 'IR'
Verb Ending
Yo
Tu
Usted, El, Ella
Nosotros
Ustedes, Ellos, Ellas
AR
E
ASTE
O
AMOS
ARON
ER
I
ISTE
O
IMOS
IERON
IR
I
ISTE
O
IMOS
IERON

Examples

Verb Yo Tu Usted, El, Ella Nosotros Ustedes, Ellos, Ellas
Caminar camine caminaste camino caminamos caminaron
Beber bebí bebiste bebió bebimos bebieron
Vivir viví viviste vivió vivimos vivieron

There are a number of irregular verbs in past tense such as hacer, querer and saber that change in the first person only. Other verbs such as decir and traer have letters that change within the verbs themselves. There are a number of irregular verbs such as those that end in UIR, CAR, GAR and ZAR.