molestar Preterite Conjugation
molestar — to bother
The preterite of molestar is regular: molesté, molestaste, molestó, molestamos, molestasteis, molestaron.
molestar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite when a specific instance of bothering happened and ended. For example, if someone interrupted you once during a meeting or if a fly bothered you at lunch.
Notes on molestar in the Preterite
Molestar is regular in the preterite. Remember the accent on the 'é' for 'yo' and the 'ó' for 'él/ella/usted'.
Example Sentences
Ayer te molesté mucho con mis preguntas, lo siento.
I bothered you a lot yesterday with my questions, I'm sorry.
yo
Él nos molestó durante toda la película.
He bothered us during the whole movie.
él/ella/usted
¿Nosotros molestamos a alguien anoche?
Did we bother anyone last night?
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: molesto
Correct: molestó
Why: Without the accent, 'molesto' is the present tense 'I bother', whereas 'molestó' is the past tense 'he/she bothered'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: molesto
Molestar is regular in the present: molesto, molestas, molesta, molestamos, molestáis, molestan.
Imperfect
yo: molestaba
The imperfect of molestar follows the standard -aba pattern: molestaba, molestabas, molestaba, molestábamos, molestabais, molestaban.
Future
yo: molestaré
The future of molestar adds endings to the infinitive: molestaré, molestarás, molestará, molestaremos, molestaréis, molestarán.
Conditional
yo: molestaría
The conditional of molestar uses the infinitive plus -ía endings: molestaría, molestarías, molestaría, molestaríamos, molestaríais, molestaría.
Present Subjunctive
yo: moleste
The present subjunctive of molestar swaps -ar for -e endings: moleste, molestes, moleste, molestemos, molestéis, molesten.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: molestara
The imperfect subjunctive of molestar uses the 'molestara' endings: molestara, molestaras, molestara, molestáramos, molestarais, molestaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: molesta
The imperative of molestar provides direct commands: molesta (tú), moleste (usted), molestad (vosotros).
Negative Imperative
yo: no molestes
The negative imperative of molestar uses the present subjunctive: no molestes, no moleste, no molestemos, no molestéis, no molesten.