# Regular preterite: hablé, comí, viví

> id: conjugation.preterite.regular · category: conjugation · depth: standard · levels: A2 · review: internally_reviewed

**Summary.** -ar verbs take -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron; -er and -ir verbs share -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. The preterite reports completed past events.

The preterite (pretérito indefinido) is the tense of completed events: it says something happened, started, or finished at a specific point. Hablar: hablé, hablaste, habló, hablamos, hablasteis, hablaron. Comer and vivir share one set: comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis, comieron.

Stress falls on the endings, which is why yo and él/ella carry written accents: hablé, habló, comí, comió. Forgetting them changes the word (hablo = I speak; habló = he spoke).

Note that -ar and -ir nosotros forms look identical to the present (hablamos, vivimos); context disambiguates. Unlike French, Spanish uses this tense constantly in speech — it is not literary.

## Examples
- Hablé con el dueño ayer. — I spoke with the owner yesterday.
- Comimos en un mercado local. — We ate at a local market.
- Vivió cinco años en Asunción. — He lived five years in Asunción.

Related: conjugation.preterite.spelling-car-gar-zar, conjugation.preterite.irregular-u-stems, conjugation.imperfect.regular

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