There are only two different conjugations for the regular forms of the preterit
| -ar | er/-ir | |
| vivir | Hablar | comer |
| Yo vivi | hable | comi |
| Tu vivste | hablaste | comiste |
| El ella usted vivio | hablo | cimio |
| Nostros vivimos | hablamos | comimos |
| Ellos Ellas, ustedes hablaron | comieron | vivieron |
This tense allows you to refer to specific past actions performed:
| 1) at a fixed point in time | : Yo vi la pelicula anoche. |
| 2) A specific number of actions | : Ellos hablaron tres veces co la directora |
| 3) during an enclosed amount of time | : La pelicula duro 3 horas |
Simple past :preterit/Imperfect
An important feature of the preterit tense is that quantifies the actions It says when or how many times something happened. It is as though there is a frame or box around the actions. Sometimes it is not stated, but only implied. Just ask yourself if it is reasonable to ask “for how long” “when: or” “how many times” the actions took place. If it ks not logic to ask a question like this you should probably use the imperfect. This is the other simple past tense that you will learn later in the course.