tardar means: to take time
Click to see all conjugation charts of tardar in every tense

In this Spanish conjugation lesson we will see how to conjugate the verb tardar in the Pretérito tense of the Indicativo mood. It means we will see step by step how to create and translate forms of each grammatical person.

This lesson is specifically about the tardar verb conjugation. For a general overview of all the Simple Tenses conjugation have a look at the Simple Tenses Conjugation Chart.

You may also see the Video Presentation on how to conjugate verbs in Pretérito. It’s embedded below, but using the above link you can see more detailed information on conjugation in this tense and explanation of exceptions and special cases.

How to translate Pretérito to English

Note that the English phrases provided below next to each conjugation are not direct translations from Spanish to English. They are usually the closest general equivalents. The example differences are:

• In Spanish conjugation, there is the form usted in the third person singular. But this person does not translate to the English third person singular. It translates to the so called formal you and uses the inflected form which is most often represented as he/she/it in English conjugation charts.
• Similar situation happens in the third person plural, where ustedes translates to the English plural formal you but uses the form which corresponds to the they form in English.
• Tenses are used differently in Spanish and English, so the actual translation should always take into account the context and focus on translating the meaning, not just words.
• In both languages each verb may have multiple meanings and not every meaning translates directly to the other language. Here also, the context and focusing on the particular meaning helps to create the most accurate translation.

Note the timeline

The ability to correctly locate the desired position on the timeline is an important skill for proper choice of tenses. So pay attention to the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while speaking, listening, writing and reading. After some practice you’ll be able to select the right tense to use much easier.

Step by step instructions

Pretérito belongs to the simple tenses group, which means that all of its inflected forms are one word long. There are also compound (compuesto) tenses in the Spanish language, where each inflected form consists of two words.The verb tardar has a completely regular conjugation in the Pretérito tense of the Indicativo mood. It means that this verb follows the basic rules for its conjugation group (-ar) without spelling corrections or exceptions. The basis for this conjugation is the stem of the verb, so we need to begin by splitting the infinitive into a stem and an ending. It’s really easy to do. Simply remove two letters from the end of the infinitive form to get the ending — one of -ar, -er or -ir. What’s left is the stem. So for tardar:

• the stem is: tard-
• and the ending is: -ar

Use the stem tard- in each person as the basis for the conjugation, the common prefix that each of the forms begins with. Next, add to this regular stem the endings specific to each person. See the image on the side showing all the six endings. Notice both the shapes and colors of the letters. It will help you find patterns and make it easier to remember these endings.Each grammatical person has a specific ending in each of the three conjugation groups -ar, -er, -ir. Add the regular ending -é for the first person singular to create tardé:

• yo tardé – I took time

Like in the previous case add the regular ending -aste for the second person singular to create tardaste:

• tú tardaste – you took time

And add the regular ending -ó for the third person singular to create tardó:

• él tardó – he took time
• ella tardó – she took time
• usted tardó – (formal) you took time

One more time add the regular ending -amos for the first person plural to create tardamos:

• nosotros tardamos – we took time
• nosotras tardamos – (feminine) we took time

Once more add the regular ending -asteis for the second person plural to create tardasteis:

• vosotros tardasteis – (plural) you took time
• vosotras tardasteis – (feminine, plural) you took time

And as before add the regular ending -aron for the third person plural to create tardaron:

• ellos tardaron – they took time
• ellas tardaron – (feminine) they took time
• ustedes tardaron – (formal, plural) you took time

Hurray! The conjugation is now finished. The final result looks as follows:

yo	tardé	I took time
tú	tardaste	you took time
él/ella/usted	tardó	he/she/it took time
nosotros/nosotras	tardamos	we took time
vosotros/vosotras	tardasteis	you took time
ellos/ellas/ustedes	tardaron	they took time

Click to see all conjugation charts of tardar in every tense
But do not end your session yet – it is very important to repeat and practice the material in order to remember it. Check below for examples and some links.

Example sentences

Next Steps to Perfection To practice this conjugation and test your skills check this Conjugation Exercise or the Memory Game To see other conjugation lessons for this verb choose another tense: PresenteImperfectoCondicionalFuturoPretérito Perfecto CompuestoPretérito PluscuamperfectoFuturo PerfectoCondicional PerfectoPretérito Perfecto Compuesto (subjuntivo)Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A (subjuntivo)Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto B (subjuntivo)Futuro Perfecto (subjuntivo)  For exercises and examples related to tardar visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for tardar visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

---