The past: recounting yesterday
Spanish has two past tenses in daily use, and which one you need depends on when it happened. That split is the whole lesson.
Colours live this week
10 of 10 in playA thing, a person or a place.
An action or a state — what is happening.
Describes a noun.
Modifies a verb or an adjective.
the / a / some — and possessives like mon, ma.
Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.
Links words together — to, in, of, for.
Joins two parts of a sentence.
Opens a question — where, when, how, why.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
Past participles are verb forms, so they stay green — and unlike French, they never change to agree with anyone.
Two pasts, split by the clock
For something that happened today, this morning, this week — use the perfect: he comido, I have eaten. For something in a finished period — yesterday, last week, in 2019 — Spain uses the simple past instead: comí, I ate. Latin America mostly uses the simple past for both, so if you learn from a Mexican teacher you will hear it differently. Get the today-versus-yesterday split right and you will sound Spanish.
Today's past — haber plus a participle
Regular participles end in -ado for -ar verbs and -ido for -er and -ir verbs. Learn each one already attached to he.
- He habladoI have spoken
hablar → hablado
- He comidoI have eaten
comer → comido
- He bebidoI have drunk
beber → bebido
- He compradoI have bought
comprar → comprado
- He tomadoI have had (food or drink)
tomar → tomado. He tomado un café is how you say I had a coffee.
- He hechoI have done / made
hacer → hecho. Irregular.
- He vistoI have seen
ver → visto. Irregular.
- He idoI have gone
ir → ido
A gift from Spanish
The participle after he never changes. Not for gender, not for number: he ido whether you are a man or a woman. French makes you track je suis allé against je suis allée; Spanish simply does not. One less thing, permanently.
Yesterday's past — the simple past
Only the yo forms are worth producing at this stage. Note the accents: they fall on the last syllable and they are not optional.
| Verb | yoreviewed | él / ella / usted |
|---|---|---|
| hablarI spoke | hablé | habló |
| comerI ate | comí | comió |
| tomarI had (food or drink) | tomé | tomó |
| verI saw | vi | vio |
| hacerI did / made | hice | hizo |
| irI went | fui | fue |
Only the yo column becomes a review card. The rest are there to be recognised, not produced — which is what keeps a day inside its fifteen minutes.
When it happened
The first three take the perfect. The last two take the simple past. Learn each marker with the tense it demands.
- [hoy]today
Takes he comido.
- [esta mañana]this morning
Takes he comido.
- [esta semana]this week
Takes he comido.
- [ayer]yesterday
Takes comí.
- [la semana pasada]last week
Takes comí.
Sentence frames
- 1
[Hoy] he tomado un café.
Today I've had a coffee.
- 2
[Ayer] comí en un restaurante.
Yesterday I ate in a restaurant.
- 3
¿Qué hizo usted [ayer]?
What did you do yesterday?
Worth learning whole. It is the question you will be asked most often.
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
Coffee Break Spanish or Español con Juan — a narrative episode
Podcast apps
Listen for he… and for the accented endings of the simple past. You now know both, so they will start to separate out.