VIA: Lesson - Irregular Verb (estar): Pretérito indefinido

Estar: position, location, action, condition, emotionsIrregular Verb (estar): Pretérito indefinido

The Spanish verb estar simply means “to be”. Of course, as you remember from our SER vs ESTAR lesson, the main problem that Spanish learners come across is understanding how to differentiate the verb estar from ser.

In a general sense – you can consider estar to describe temporary conditions, locations, or states. This means things like emotions, feelings, and current location. If you need to go back and review lesson SER vs ESTAR, we suggest doing it now before you continue this lesson.

As the image to the right reminds us, we can use the acronym P.L.A.C.E to help us remember when to use estar: Position, Location, Action, Condition, and Emotions.

Conjugating ESTAR in pretérito indefinido in Spanish

You already know how to conjugate ESTAR in the present tense so now is time to learn verb ESTAR preterit tense conjugation:

Preterit Conjugation of the verb ESTAR
Pronoun Spanish English
yo estuve I was
tú estuviste You were (informal)
él/ella
usted		 estuvo He/She/It was
You were (singular, formal)
nosotros/nosotras estuvimos We were
vosotros/vosotras estuvisteis You were (informal)
ellos/ellas
ustedes		 estuvieron They were
You were (plural, formal)

Let’s go over the conjugation in the context of a sentence and apply the vocabulary learned in this module:

  • ¡El año pasado estuve de vacaciones en la playa y me encantó! Last year I went on vacation to the beach, and I loved it!
  • ¿Dónde estuviste ayer por la tarde? Where were you yesterday afternoon?
  • Ayer por la tarde estuve en el museo de arte, ¡me gustó mucho! Last afternoon I was in the art museum, I liked it very much!
  • Mi hermana estuvo enferma la semana pasada. My sister was sick last week.
  • Nosotras estuvimos de viaje la semana pasada. We were on a trip last week.
  • ¿Estuvisteis cansados después del viaje? Were you’all tired after the trip?
  • Mis padres estuvieron muy felices de viajar a Chile el invierno pasado. My parents were very happy to travel to Chile last winter.

Writing Practice

Can you write a sentence in Spanish stating where you were yesterday? For example:

Ayer por la mañana yo estuve en la clase de matemáticas – Yesterday morning I was in math class.

Take a few minutes and write two sentences describing where you were yesterday morning and last Saturday afternoon:

  1. Ayer por la mañana yo …..
  2. El sábado pasado por la tarde yo …

A stick note with La actividad de práctica written on it.

Practice Activity

It is time to practice verb ESTAR conjugation in the preterit tense. 

Take time to practice. All practice activities have unlimited attempts. Practice as many times as you need. When you complete practice activities, you are reviewing the lessons and preparing yourself to move forward in the course!

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