100 Examples of Copreterite

The preterite indicative mood, also called the imperfect tense , is a verbal tense used to refer to situations that occurred in the past, but which do not occur at a specific time, but rather have a long or unspecified duration and are now complete. For example:We arrivedalways early.

This verbal tense allows the possibility of being conjugated both in the indicative mood , when it is a question of concrete expressions about the real world, and in the subjunctive mood , when it is a question of conjectures regarding things that could eventually happen.

In the indicative mood, the preterite has two alternative endings, depending on the conjugation to which the verb belongs:

• First conjugation. The inflectional morpheme -aba is added. For example:loved, sang, worked.
• Secondand third conjugation . The inflectional morpheme -ía is added. For example:I feared, I left, I resorted.

Please note:When the ending -aba is added , the stressed syllable falls on the first a of the ending. For example:we drank , we fished , we studied .When the ending -ía is added , the ending is accented in all persons. For example:They won , they hurt , we demanded .

• See also: Past tense verbs

Complete conjugation of the preterite

Attention:The only three verbs that present irregularities in the preterite indicative mood are to be, to go, and to see . For example:we were, I was going, they saw.

Examples of verbs in the preterite

Characteristics of the preterite

Depending on the context, a verb in the preterite tense can offer different nuances:

• It can refer to something that is certain to have happened in the past. For example:In the Middle Ages, kings hadthe authority.
• It can appear in structures with two verbs in a temporal relationship, in which one is in the preterite due to its durative nature and the other in the simple preterite, to mark the occurrence of an event at a given time or an interruption. For example: While King Arthur ruled , a fierce rebellion broke out.
• A temporal link can be established between two simultaneous actions that took place in the past, both in the preterite tense. For example:While some weresunbathing, others were playing
• You can express habits from the past that you no longer have by using the verb “soler” in the preterite tense, followed by the infinitivethat represents the recurring action. For example:When I was young, I used to swim every morning.
• Can describepeople, environments, objects, and situations in the past tense, without continuity with the present (even if the described subject retains the aforementioned characteristics). For example:The bus was
• In oral communication, it can have a value of courtesy. For example:Did you needsomething? / Were you looking for something in particular?

Examples of sentences with verbs in the preterite

1. The young man screamedin despair.
2. They workedfrom Monday to Thursday back then.
3. It lackedthe most basic things.
4. They used tolet us know when the class was cancelled .
5. We understoodthat this could not happen.
6. At that time, we wentto school six days a week.
7. The children ranbetween the tables.
8. The tallest satin the back rows.
9. The youngest was still indiapers when they moved.
10. The manager always countedthe money before leaving the bank.
11. We felt like we were n’t going to make it.
12. I knewhe would call her sooner or later.
13. They wroteletters that never reached their destination.
14. The child was cryingwith anger.
15. Juan just repeatedhis name.
16. Every summer the weeds invadedour garden.
17. We arguedabout everything.
18. He never closedhis mouth in class, so he never understood the lesson.
19. He wasstumbling around.
20. With the previous teacher, we used tofinish on time.
21. Life wasvery different back then.
22. My father went outevery morning to work at the port.
23. In the living room, there wasa huge painting of a landscape.
24. When I wasa child, I had nightmares frequently.
25. While some were resting, we were working
26. As soon as he woke up, he began his reproaches.
27. The student stood outamong her classmates.
28. The dog barkedand the neighbors could n’t sleep.
29. As a young man he studied
30. The man used todrink a glass of wine every night.