This introduction covers Vocabulario de alta frecuencia — High-Frequency Preterite Verbs within Preterite (regular verbs) for GCSE Spanish. Revise Preterite (regular verbs) in Time Frames for GCSE Spanish with 13 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. Use this page as part of a wider topic revision path rather than treating it as an isolated fact. It is section 4 of 4 in this topic. Use this introduction to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.

📚 Vocabulario de alta frecuencia — High-Frequency Preterite Verbs

These are the preterite forms you will meet most often in GCSE reading and listening papers, almost always in the él/ella form. Three of them are irregular — they do not follow the regular endings and must be memorised.

Infinitivo	Él/ella pretérito	Significado	Nota
hablar	habló	he/she spoke	regular -ar
llegar	llegó	he/she arrived	regular -ar
comprar	compró	he/she bought	regular -ar
visitar	visitó	he/she visited	regular -ar
estudiar	estudió	he/she studied	regular -ar
comer	comió	he/she ate	regular -er
salir	salió	he/she went out / left	regular -ir
ir / ser	fue	he/she went / was	⚠️ irregular — same form for ir and ser
ver	vio	he/she saw / watched	⚠️ irregular — no accent on vio
dar	dio	he/she gave	⚠️ irregular — no accent on dio

⭐ Marcadores de tiempo — Time Markers for the Preterite

ayer — yesterday
anoche — last night
la semana pasada — last week
el año pasado — last year
hace tres días — three days ago
el sábado pasado — last Saturday

In GCSE reading and listening, these time markers are your first signal that the preterite is being used. Spot the time marker, expect the preterite.

Quick recall flashcards

Conjugate VIVIR in the preterite tense (all 6 persons)

yo viv**í** — I lived tú viv**iste** — you lived él/ella viv**ió** — he/she lived nosotros viv**imos** — we lived vosotros viv**isteis** — you (pl.) lived ellos/ellas viv**ieron** — they lived Pattern: -IR preterite endings: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron

Conjugate COMER in the preterite tense (all 6 persons)

yo com**í** — I ate tú com**iste** — you ate él/ella com**ió** — he/she ate nosotros com**imos** — we ate vosotros com**isteis** — you (pl.) ate ellos/ellas com**ieron** — they ate Pattern: -ER preterite endings: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron

Vocabulario de alta frecuencia — High-Frequency Preterite Verbs