What did you do last weekend?
Talk about the past with the simple preterite
Context
Listen to the dialogue. Tap the speaker to hear each line.
Carlos
¿Qué hiciste el fin de semana pasado?
What did you do last weekend?
Lucía
El sábado fui al cine con unos amigos.
On Saturday I went to the movies with some friends.
Carlos
¿Y qué película vieron?
And what movie did you see?
Lucía
Vimos una de acción. Después cenamos en un restaurante.
We saw an action one. Then we had dinner at a restaurant.
Carlos
¡Qué bien! Yo estuve en casa todo el domingo.
How nice! I was at home all Sunday.
Practice the dialogue
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Vocabulary
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fui
El sábado fui al cine.
'Fui' can mean both 'I went' and 'I was' (from ir and ser).
I went / I was
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The preterite of regular verbs
Use the preterite for finished actions in the past. Endings: -ar verbs take -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -aron; -er/-ir verbs take -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -ieron.
Yo caminé, tú caminaste, él caminó. Yo comí, tú comiste, él comió. Yo viví, tú viviste, él vivió.
Preterite = a completed, one-time action. 'Cené ayer' = I had dinner yesterday (done).
Common irregular preterites: fui, hice, estuve
Three very useful verbs are irregular in the preterite: 'fui' (I went/was), 'hice' (I did/made), 'estuve' (I was/located).
Fui al cine. Hice la tarea. Estuve en casa.
With 'ser' use 'estuve' for temporary location, 'fui' for identity or going somewhere.
Interactive practice
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Where did she go?
Listen and choose the correct option.
Where did Lucía go on Saturday?
Irregular preterite
Write the correct preterite of 'ir' for 'I went' (accents optional).
Accents optional: write "como estas" and it works.
Match preterite forms
Connect each Spanish past verb with its English meaning.
Tell what you did
Listen, pause and repeat the weekend story.
El fin de semana fui al cine y después cené en un restaurante.
Last weekend I went to the movies and then I had dinner at a restaurant.
Listen, pause and repeat out loud. Repeat 3 times until it sounds natural.
Pronunciation trainer
Write your weekend
Write one sentence in the preterite about something you did last weekend.
Write a Spanish sentence about what you did last weekend, using the preterite.
Suggested answer: El domingo descansé en casa.
What did he watch?
Listen and choose the correct option.
What kind of movie did they watch?
Regular -ar preterite
Write the correct preterite of 'caminar' for 'I walked' (accents optional).
Accents optional: write "como estas" and it works.
Final quiz
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