matar Preterite Conjugation
matar — to kill
The preterite of matar is regular: maté, mataste, mató, matamos, matasteis, mataron.
matar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite to describe a specific, completed event of killing, such as in a news report or a story where the action happened once and ended.
Notes on matar in the Preterite
Matar is perfectly regular in the preterite. Be careful with 'matamos', which is the same as the present tense.
Example Sentences
El insecticida mató a todas las hormigas.
The insecticide killed all the ants.
él/ella/usted
Ayer maté dos horas en la biblioteca.
Yesterday I killed two hours in the library.
yo
Ellos mataron al villano al final de la película.
They killed the villain at the end of the movie.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on mató.
Correct: mató
Why: Without the accent, it doesn't indicate the third-person past tense correctly.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: mato
The present tense of matar is regular: mato, matas, mata, matamos, matáis, matan.
Imperfect
yo: mataba
The imperfect of matar follows the regular -aba pattern: mataba, matabas, mataba, matábamos, matabais, mataban.
Future
yo: mataré
The future of matar is regular: matar + é, ás, á, emos, éis, án.
Conditional
yo: mataría
The conditional of matar is regular: mataría, matarías, mataría, mataríamos, mataríais, matarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: mate
The present subjunctive of matar uses -e endings: mate, mates, mate, matemos, matéis, maten.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: matara
The imperfect subjunctive of matar is matara, mataras, matara, matáramos, matarais, mataran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: mata
The affirmative imperative of matar is: mata (tú), mate (usted), matemos (nosotros), matad (vosotros), maten (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no mates
The negative imperative of matar uses the present subjunctive: no mates, no mate, no matemos, no matéis, no maten.