callar Preterite Conjugation
callar — to be silent
The preterite of callar is regular: callé, callaste, calló, callamos, callasteis, callaron.
callar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite when someone stopped talking or went silent at a specific moment in the past. It marks a completed action where the silence began or happened.
Notes on callar in the Preterite
Callar is fully regular in the preterite. Remember the accent on the 'é' and 'ó' to distinguish the tense.
Example Sentences
Él calló de repente cuando ella entró.
He went silent suddenly when she entered.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros callamos durante el minuto de silencio.
We remained silent during the minute of silence.
nosotros
Callé mis dudas para no causar problemas.
I kept my doubts to myself to not cause problems.
yo
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Confusing 'calló' with 'cayó'.
Correct: Calló means 'he/she went silent'; cayó means 'he/she fell'.
Why: This is a very common homophone error even for native speakers.
Master Spanish verbs in context
Memorizing tables only gets you so far. Read 200+ illustrated and narrated Spanish stories to see verbs like 'callar' used naturally — in the tenses you're learning.
Related Tenses
Present
yo: callo
The present tense of callar is regular: callo, callas, calla, callamos, calláis, callan.
Imperfect
yo: callaba
The imperfect of callar is regular: callaba, callabas, callaba, callábamos, callabais, callaban.
Future
yo: callaré
The future of callar is regular: callaré, callarás, callará, callaremos, callaréis, callarán.
Conditional
yo: callaría
The conditional of callar is regular: callaría, callarías, callaría, callaríamos, callaríais, callarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: calle
The present subjunctive of callar is regular: calle, calles, calle, callemos, calléis, callen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: callara
The imperfect subjunctive of callar is regular: callara, callaras, callara, calláramos, callarais, callaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: calla
The imperative of callar uses calla (tú), callad (vosotros), and subjunctive forms for others.
Negative Imperative
yo: no calles
The negative imperative of callar uses 'no' plus the present subjunctive forms.