Indefinite past tense in Spanish (simple perfect past tense)

O indefinite past tense or simple perfect past tenseis a tense in the indicative way that expresses actions taken and completed in the past. Its equivalent in Portuguese would be the past tense perfect.

As this time indicates past actions, that is, separate from the present, it is common for it to be accompanied with expressions of time, like:

• ayer (yesterday);

• anoche (last night);

• anteyer (before yesterday);

• last week;

• last year;

• the previous month;

• he past siglo (in the last century);

• that day;

• that time;

• then (then);

• en + month/year;

• the day of the week and any other temporal expression that indicates that the action is outside the present tense unit.

There is another tense in Spanish that is often translated as past tense in the indicative way in Portuguese language, but which has a different use than indefinite past tense. it is about the perfect past tense composite, which also expresses a past action, but which is closely related to the present, in addition to other nuances related to diatopic varieties - that is, from each region/country where the Spanish. We'll cover these features in this article.

Let's learn a little more about the indefinite past tense? Keep reading and ¡échale ganas!

Read too: Uses and conjugation of the present subjunctive in Spanish

Use of indefinite past tense in Spanish

Indicate facts or experiences located in a specific moment in the past.

• Anoche study with my friends in the farmhouse.
  (Last night I have been with my friends at the ice cream parlor.)

• Me buy a new pantaloon.
  (Bought a new pants for me.)

Regular verbs

Pronoun	Sing	Eat	Move up
yo	canté	withí	subí
you/you	cantaste	withthis	subthis
he/she/usted	cantó	withyo	subyo
nosotros	cantloves	withwe go	subwe go
you (the)	canthelpful	withistile	subistile

OJO!

• The endings of the second and third conjugation verbs (to eat and to climb) are the same.

• The regular verbs of the indefinite past tense of the indicative receive graphic accent in the last syllable in the first and third person singular.

• The third person plural ends with -ron. It is very important to pay attention to this ending, as there are verbs that end in -ran, but belong to another tense and verb mode, the imperfect subjunctive (Si ellos cantoran – If they sang).

Irregular verbs

In addition to the typical irregularity in the root, the indefinite past tense also has special endings for these verbs. We can divide them into three groups.

1. Irregular root verbs

Are those where the entire root is modified. They comprise most of the irregular verbs in indefinite past tense. Let's look at the most common:

• know - sup

• power - pud

• poner - pus

• haber - hub

• fit - cup

• tener - tuv

• be - study

• walk - anduv

• decide - say

• to bring – costume

• want - wanted

• come - come

• do - hic/hiz

• drive - drive

OJO!

1. Verbs ending in -ducir have the root changed to -duj.

2. Correspondents of irregular verbs maintain the same irregularities in the root and in the endings:

• maintain - mantuv

• convene - coniv

• deshacer - deshic/deshiz

Pronoun	Walk	Be	do	decide
yo	Anduve	study	hice	say
you/you	anduvist	you studied	hyciste	dijit
he/she/usted	anduvo	study	hizo	say
nosotros	we walk	we studied	hycimus	we say
you (the)	anduvistiles	student	hycistiles	dijistils
ellos (as)/ustedes	anduvieron	estuvieron	hicieron	dijeron*

The endings of irregular verbs in the indefinite past tense are:

-and

-this

-O

we

-isteis

-ieron/eron

*The third person plural ending -eron is only used with verbs ending in -ducir and with the verb decide.

See too: What are exchange verbs?

2. Verbs with vowel change

They are verbs of the third conjugation — ending in -ir — that have -and or -O in the last syllable of the root. Irregularity only happens to third parties singular and plural. As a rule, the -e vowel of the root becomes -i, and the -o vowel becomes -u. The endings of these verbs are the same as regular ones. Some examples are:

• ask

• repeat

• die

• to sleep

• to lie

• follow

• to feel

• to compete

• elect

• prevent

• to stalk

• present

OJO!

In verbs with two vowels in a row — oír (to hear), leer (to read) — the ending vowel is converted to -y-, in the third singular and plural. They also follow gap accentuation rules.

Pronoun	Ask	die	read
yo	I asked	mori	law
you/you	you asked	died	milk
he/she/usted	pidio	murio	leyo
nosotras	we ask	we died	we read
you	pedistiles	moristeis	lawful
they/they/usedes	pidieron	murieron	leyeron

• Camila sintio who needed help.
  (Camila felt who needed help.)

• Juan leyo all the books of his library.
  (Juan read all the books in your library.)

3. Verbs give, be and go

They are completely irregular.

Pronoun	to give	be/go
yo	di	went
you/you	far	you were
he/she/usted	hate	was
nosotras	we say	we went
you	distal	vain
they/they/usedes	dieron	fueron

Also access: Uses and conjugation of reflexive verbs in Spanish

Simple past perfect X composite perfect past tense

Although the translations of the verbs in the indefinite past tense and in the perfect compuesto, in Portuguese, are carried out with the perfect tense of the indicative, in Spanish the use of these two verb tenses is very different.

The indefinite past tense is used in situations where the event does not have no relation to the present time; in turn, the past perfecto composite is used in situations that are part of the moment of enunciation, as they refer to a past action that takes place within the time unit of the present. Let's analyze the following sentences:

This year he's gone to Galicia.
last year went to Galicia.
(this year/last year went to Galicia.)

Note that the two Spanish sentences were translated the same way into Portuguese, but don't mean the same thing in spanish. In the first, the subject states that he went to Galicia in the current year, that is, the year he went to that place is not over yet. Expressed action takes place in the past, but its point of reference is the present moment. In the second example, in which the indefinite past tense is used, the subject went to Galicia in the previous year, that is, he is no longer within the mentioned time unit (he last year).

On the other hand, it is possible that these times are interchangeable in some regions. For example, in Hispanoamerica and the Canary Islands, it is not very common to use the perfect past tense composite, so that the speakers can quietly say “This year went Galicia”. What does not happen (or has not yet been registered) is the opposite use, that is, changing the indefinite to the perfect composite with time stamps that refer to completed time units, such as ayer, for example. Thus, it would not be possible to find records of the statement “Ayer I went to Mariana's house” (Yesterday I went to Mariana's house).

solved exercises

Question 1 - (Enem 2011/2)

In America, the Incas and Aztecs cultivated the plant they called tomato ya since 700 years a. of C. When Europe was taken, it stood out for its ornamental value and the beauty of its fruits, which in its yellow version deserved a name in Italian: pomodoro, they are, golden manzana. Used as an ornamental plant in patios and gardens, at times it was associated with other poisonous nightshades, such as belladonna, where it was considered that it was also used. In vain, their today contains, like la planta de la papa, an alkaloid called solanine. Tomatoes in the field have been universally accepted as food, and even then they are cooked for hours to eliminate their “poisons”. Today it is among the most consumed vegetables and has its nutritional prestige, especially with its vitamin C and beta-carotene content.

(very interesting. No. 212. Buenos Aires: GF, sea. 2005 – adapted)

Considering the information presented and the likely target audience, the text was constructed with the intention of:

A) encourage the consumption of tomatoes for their health benefits.

B) warn about the toxic characteristics of tomatoes.

C) encourage the use of tomatoes as an ornamental object.

D) discuss the origin of tomatoes and their uses in the world.

E) highlight the importance of yellow colored tomatoes.

Resolution

Alternative D. This is a short text for scientific dissemination that seeks to inform about the history of the tomato.

Question 2 - (Enem 2013/1)

One day, Cortes was presented with a bien distinguished tribute: a gift of twenty slaves went to the Spanish camp and among them, Cortes chose one. She is described by the chronicler of the expedition, Bernal Días del Castillo, as a woman of “buen appearing y intermetida y developed ”, the indigenous name of this woman was Malintzin, indicating that she was born under signs of contention and misfortune. Her priests la vendieron as a slave; the Spanish la llamaron doña Marina, but their pueblo la llamó la Malinche, the woman of the conqueror, the traitor to the Indians. But with any of these names, the woman knew an extraordinary destiny. If it became “my language”, you could court your interpreter and his lover, the language that would guide him to the broad and high places of the Empire Aztec, demonstrating that something was rotten in the kingdom of Moctezuma, that in fact there was great discontent and that the Empire had pies of clay.

FUENTES, C. El espejo buried. Mexico City: FCE, 1992 (fragment).

Malinche, or Malintzin, was a key figure in the history of the Spanish conquest of America, acting as

A) interpreter of the conqueror, enabling him to know the weaknesses of the Empire.

B) slave of the Spaniards, putting herself at the service of the objectives of the Crown.

C) lover of the conqueror, giving rise to ethnic miscegenation.

D) voice of its people, defending the political interests of the Aztec Empire.

E) curse of the Aztecs, instilling corruption in the Montezuma government.

Resolution

Alternative A. The text tells the story of an important figure in the history of Mexico and Latin America — Malintzin —, the Indian woman sold as a slave and who, due to her language skills, was chosen as Hernán's interpreter Polite.

By Renata Martins Gornattes
Spanish teacher

Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/espanhol/preterito-indefinido-em-espanhol-preterito-perfecto-simple.htm