The pretérito expresses an action that has been totally completed at the moment of speaking. The length of time between the finished action and the moment of expression is not relevant:

- Anoche estudié español. (Last night I studied Spanish.)
- Te vi en el tren. (I saw you on the train.)
- El año pasado viví en Barcelona. (Last year I lived in Barcelona.)

   We normally use the simple past with expressions such as "ayer" (yesterday), "la semana pasada" (last week), "anoche" (last night), and other time markers that show the action took place within a period of time that is not the present.

  Note that "nosotros" in -ar and -ir verbs have the same conjugation as the present tense.

- Llegamos tarde. (We arrive late.)
- Anoche llegamos tarde. (Last night we arrived late.)

  Remember, if you can determine for how long an action took place in the past, use the pretérito:
- Ayer te esperé dos horas. (Yesterday I waited two hours for you.)
- La película duró noventa minutos. (The movie lasted ninety minutes.)

  Also use the pretérito to describe a series of specific actions that took place in the past.
- Ayer me desperté a las siete, desayuné a las ocho, y salí a trabajar a las nueve.
  (Yesterday I woke up at seven, had breakfast at eight, and left for work at nine.)

 Finally, note that verbs with the ending "-car", "-gar", and "zar" change when forming the pretérito. They are not irregular verbs, but we change the spelling to preserve the "hard" sound of "g" and "c":

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