Trabajaron todo el día.
They worked all day.¿Terminaste el libro?
Did you finish the book?The endings for regular -er and -ir verbs are as follows:
e.g. comer (to eat) escribir (to write)
-í comí escribí
(^) -iste comiste escribiste
-ió comió escribió
-imos comimos escribimos
(^) -isteis comisteis escribisteis
-ieron comieron escribieron
Here are some examples of regular -er and -ir verbs in the preterite tense:
Decidimos vender la casa.
We decided to sell the house.
No vieron la película.
They did not see the film.
Bebí mucho vino anoche.
I drank a lot of wine last night.
Vendió su coche.
He sold his car.
Note: The preterite of the verb dar (to give) uses -er endings: dí, diste, dio, dimos,
disteis, dieron.
Spelling changes
Some verbs require spelling changes in the stem of the preterite to conform to the normal
rules of pronunciation (see introductory section on ‘Pronunciation’, pp. ix–x).
-ar verbs whose stem ends in z, c or g need a spelling change in the first person
singular as follows:
empezar to begin empecé
The preterite tense 119