How to use the past indefinite or the past perfect simple?

Do you want to see some examples of sentences with these keywords? Here they go!

• Yesterday I saw Sergio and spoke with him.
• 3 weeks ago I was on vacation.
• Last month you signed up for bachata classes.
• In September we start our Spanish classes.
• She was born in 1999.

If you notice, the verb in example 3 is reflexive. We haven't talked about this before, but we simply want to tell you that the idea is the same as in the present.

You need to use the personal pronouns and conjugate the verb in the indicated tense, in this case, past indefinite.

For example, the verb sign up would be like this:

I signed up

you signed up

He/she/you signed up

We sign up

You signed up

They signed up

Past actions in chronological order

The past actions in chronological order is a use very common of the past indefinite what we all do when we narrate an event or we tell a story.

Although it may seem complicated, it is actually very simple.

It is only the successive use of past verbs in Spanish exceeding advance a story or event.

For example, imagine that someone asks you what you did yesterday from 17.00:22.00 p.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.

In these 5 hours you probably did several things, so you are going to narrate the actions you did in chronological order.

«Yesterday at 17.00:XNUMX p.m. terminé my classes at the university. I am back home and take some snack After I went down to the supermarket to do the shopping. At 19.00:XNUMX p.m. I stayed with my friends and went to see a movie. At 22.00:XNUMX p.m. I left of cinema and I returned to home".

Specific actions in the past

Specific actions are actions that They didn't happen repeatedly. in the past.

They happened very few times, were not common, but they were important or impactful and that is why we remember them.

For talk about past actions punctual that only happened once, we usually use the keywords once y one day.

• As a child, Roberto broke his leg once.
• One day I found a 500 euro bill on the street. It hasn't happened to me again.

distant past

The last use of the past indefinite is that of distant past. This use refers to a time in the past that we have already mentioned before. 

As we already know what time it refers to, it is mentioned with the demonstrative ese / that + noun.

It can be a year, a month, a day. etc

For example:

• In 2018 I did my Erasmus. that year I met a lot of people.
• Noelia stopped smoking in October. That month He also started playing sports.

Common mistakes

You have already seen how the past indefinite tense is formed and used. Brilliant! You already know the most important thing.

But the article does not end here.

Now let's see the most typical errors what students usually commitianyou with this time. 

Knowing and understanding these mistakes will help you not make them ☝🏻.

Shutterstock

Confusion of the first and third person singular form

The way of yo y he she can be a bit confusing, especially in the conjugation of verbs that end in -With.

The way of yo ends in -and, and of he/she/you in -o.

For example: 

• Yesterday I I talked with Jose.
• Yesterday he I speak with Jose.

Where does the confusion come from? The confusion occurs because the first person singular in present of verbs that end in -With It is also formed with -o.

For example: 

• Yo hablo Spanish.

Therefore, in the third person singular of the indefinite past tense, the -o goes with an accent. The pronunciation is different.

The accent is key

The accent It is a very important resource that is used in different tenses.

Thanks to it, we can differentiate exactly what time we are talking about in cases where there is confusion.

We have already seen one in the previous point. But there is another one with the first person singular that ends in -With.

These verbs end in -e, with an accent. 

En present subjunctive, the first person singular of verbs ending in -With, is also conjugated with the -e.

To differentiate them, we put the accent again in the indefinite past tense. 

Look at it with some examples:

• Last year we signed the Pact for Gender Equality in Colombia, an agreement that symbolizes the co-responsibility of around XNUMX organizations with the implementation of actions that contribute to reducing inequalities. journey a lot (past indefinite).
• Hopefully travel more this year (present subjunctive).

Do you not know well the accentuation rules in Spanish? 

Take a look at our article and that will no longer be a problem

The way of you it does not carry -S at the end

Another frequent error of the past indefinite tense occurs in the form of you.

Many people (even the Spanish) add a -s at the end. 

That's totally wrong.

Don't make that mistake, no matter how much you hear it on the street 🙈.

• Yesterday I dijistes that you would come to the party. ❌
• Yesterday I said that you would come to the party. ✅

The second sentence is the correct one 👍🏻.

Curiosities of the indefinite past tense

Finally, we wanted to tell you some curiosities tasks in the indefinite past tense that it is good to know them.

The first is the one we talked about at the beginning: the names.

Remember that this time can be called pretérito perfecto simple o pretérito indefinido. Both are correct and name the same time.  

Another thing that is worth knowing is that this is one of the times that most irregular verbs has. 

So if you've gotten a little stressed over the list of verbs before, don't get overwhelmed. It's not usual.

Normally Spanish does not have so many irregularities 🙈.

Another curious thing is that the first person plural (U.S) of regular verbs that end in -With It is the same as in the present.

To differentiate time, it is necessary to look at the context and keywords.

For example:

• Ayer Speak with their parents.
• Ahora Speak with their parents.

Let's practice!

You've already seen everything you need to know about the past indefinite tense. !! Congratulations!!

But you can't leave here without putting into practice what you've learned. 

We have two prepared exercises of the indefinite past tense for you.

The first is easy, it is an exercise to mechanize the form of the past indefinite. Write the correct form of the infinitive in parentheses.