The preterite (el pretérito) is one of two tenses in Spanish. El pretérito es uno de dos tiempos en español.

•Pretérito Regular (-ar/-er/-ir) y (-car/-gar/-zar)

The preterite (el pretérito) is one of two past tenses in Spanish.

El pretérito es uno de dos tiempos pasados en español.

Explanation:

In Spanish two tenses are used in the past, the preterite and the imperfect. The preterite is used to talk about specific events in the past and the imperfect is used to talk about habitual actions in the past.

I went to the cinema yesterday.

(Specific event = preterite)

Yo fui al cine ayer.

I went to the beach every summer.  

(Habitual actions in the past = imperfect)

Yo iba a la playa todos los veranos.

"Tomar" goes to "yo tomé"

"Beber" goes to "yo bebí"

"Vivir" goes to "yo viví"

"Tocar" goes to "yo toqué"

"Regar" goes to "yo regué"

"Rezar" goes to "yo recé"