pretérito
Spanish, noun/pɾeˈteɾito/
pretérito is spelled P-R-E-T-É-R-I-T-O (9 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written Spanish, the 41,788th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Pretérito is a Spanish masculine noun meaning “the preterite tense” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Tiempo verbal que denota una acción pretérita₁”.
What does pretérito mean in English?
adjective
- 1
past; former
- 2
of the preterite verb tense
noun
- 1
masculinethe preterite tense
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Que ya ha sucedido, existido o transcurrido, especialmente cuando ha pasado mucho tiempo desde su fin.
noun: 1. Tiempo verbal que denota una acción pretérita₁.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of pretérito
- pretérita feminine
- pretéritos masculine plural
- pretéritas feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce pretérito?
- /pɾeˈteɾito/
- [pɾeˈt̪e.ɾi.t̪o]
- [pɾeˈt̪eɾit̪o]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to pretérito
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is pretérito in Spanish?
pretérito appears about once in every 1 million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).