
comprar Preterite Conjugation
comprar — to buy
The preterite of comprar is regular: compré, compraste, compró, compramos, comprasteis, compraron.
comprar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite for a purchase that was completed at a specific time in the past, such as buying a car last year or a coffee ten minutes ago.
Notes on comprar in the Preterite
Comprar is regular in the preterite. Note that the 'nosotros' form is the same as in the present tense.
Example Sentences
Ayer compré una chaqueta nueva.
Yesterday I bought a new jacket.
yo
Él compró los boletos para el concierto.
He bought the tickets for the concert.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros compramos la cena anoche.
We bought dinner last night.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: compro
Correct: compró
Why: Missing the accent on 'compró' turns the past tense 'he bought' into the present tense 'I buy'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: compro
Comprar is a regular -ar verb in the present: compro, compras, compra, compramos, compráis, compran.
Imperfect
yo: compraba
The imperfect of comprar uses the regular -aba endings: compraba, comprabas, compraba, comprábamos, comprabais, compraban.
Future
yo: compraré
The future of comprar is formed by adding endings to the infinitive: compraré, comprarás, comprará, compraremos, compraréis, comprarán.
Conditional
yo: compraría
The conditional of comprar is regular: compraría, comprarías, compraría, compraríamos, compraríais, comprarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: compre
The present subjunctive of comprar uses -e endings: compre, compres, compre, compremos, compréis, compren.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: comprara
The imperfect subjunctive of comprar is built from the preterite stem: comprara, compraras, comprara, compráramos, comprarais, compraran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: compra
The imperative of comprar gives commands: compra (tú), compre (usted), compremos, comprad (vosotros), compren.
Negative Imperative
yo: no compres
The negative imperative of comprar uses the present subjunctive: no compres, no compre, no compremos, no compréis, no compren.