comer Preterite Conjugation
comer — to eat
The preterite of comer follows regular -er endings: comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis, comieron.
comer Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite when you finished a specific meal or ate something at a definite point in time. It's for completed actions, like 'I ate a sandwich at 1:00 PM.'
Notes on comer in the Preterite
Comer is regular in the preterite. Note that 'comimos' is the same in both present and preterite; context tells you the timing.
Example Sentences
Ayer comí en un restaurante mexicano.
Yesterday I ate at a Mexican restaurant.
yo
¿Comiste algo antes de salir?
Did you eat something before leaving?
tú
Ellos comieron toda la pizza.
They ate the whole pizza.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: comio (without accent)
Correct: comió
Why: Without the accent on the 'ó', the word is pronounced incorrectly and loses its past-tense meaning.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: como
Comer is a regular -er verb in the present: como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, comen.
Imperfect
yo: comía
Comer in the imperfect uses -ía endings: comía, comías, comía, comíamos, comíais, comían.
Future
yo: comeré
The future of comer is formed by adding endings to the infinitive: comeré, comerás, comerá.
Conditional
yo: comería
The conditional of comer adds -ía endings to the infinitive: comería, comerías, comería.
Present Subjunctive
yo: coma
The present subjunctive of comer uses -a endings: coma, comas, coma, comamos, comáis, coman.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: comiera
The imperfect subjunctive of comer uses the stem 'comier-': comiera, comieras, comiera.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: come
The affirmative imperative of comer gives direct orders: come, coma, comamos, comed, coman.
Negative Imperative
yo: no comas
Negative commands for comer use the present subjunctive: no comas, no coma, no comamos.