festejar Preterite Conjugation
festejar — to celebrate
Festejé (yo), festejaste (tú), festejó (él/ella/usted), festejamos (nosotros), festejasteis (vosotros), festejaron (ellos/ellas/ustedes).
festejar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite tense to talk about actions of celebrating that started and finished at a specific point in the past. Think of single events or celebrations that concluded.
Notes on festejar in the Preterite
Festejar is a regular -ar verb in the preterite. All the forms follow the standard pattern.
Example Sentences
Ayer festejamos el aniversario de nuestros padres.
Yesterday we celebrated our parents' anniversary.
nosotros
Mi hermano festejó su cumpleaños con una gran fiesta.
My brother celebrated his birthday with a big party.
él/ella/usted
¿Festejasteis mucho anoche?
Did you all celebrate a lot last night?
vosotros
Ellos festejaron el título hasta el amanecer.
They celebrated the title until dawn.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using the imperfect 'festejábamos' instead of the preterite 'festejamos' for a specific past event.
Correct: Use 'festejamos' for a celebration that happened and ended yesterday.
Why: The preterite marks completed actions, while the imperfect describes ongoing or habitual past actions.
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on 'festejó' (él/ella/usted).
Correct: The form is 'festejó' with an accent on the 'ó'.
Why: The accent marks the stressed syllable and distinguishes it from other forms.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: festejo
Festejo (yo), festejas (tú), festeja (él/ella/usted), festejamos (nosotros), festejáis (vosotros), festejan (ellos/ellas/ustedes).
Imperfect
yo: festejaba
Festejaba (yo/él/ella/usted), festejabas (tú), festejábamos (nosotros), festejabais (vosotros), festejaban (ellos/ellas/ustedes).
Future
yo: festejaré
Festejaré (yo), festejarás (tú), festejará (él/ella/usted), festejaremos (nosotros), festejaréis (vosotros), festejarán (ellos/ellas/ustedes).
Conditional
yo: festejaría
Festejaría (yo/él/ella/usted), festejarías (tú), festejaríamos (nosotros), festejaríais (vosotros), festejarían (ellos/ellas/ustedes).
Present Subjunctive
yo: festeje
Festeje (yo/él/ella/usted), festejes (tú), festejemos (nosotros), festejen (ellos/ellas/ustedes/vosotros).
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: festejara
The imperfect subjunctive of festejar has two forms: festejara/festejaras/festejara/festejáramos/festejarais/festejaran and festejase/festejases/festejase/festejásemos/festejaseis/festejasen.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: festeja
Festeja (tú), festeje (usted), festejemos (nosotros), festejen (ustedes), festejad (vosotros).
Negative Imperative
yo: no festejes
No festejes (tú), no festeje (usted), no festejemos (nosotros), no festejen (ustedes), no festejéis (vosotros).