Poner (to put) · Preterite
By TutorLily Editorial Team · Last updated
Poner in the Spanish preterite (pretérito indefinido) is: yo puse, tú pusiste, él/ella/usted puso, nosotros/as pusimos, vosotros/as pusisteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes pusieron. The preterite of poner uses the irregular stem 'pus-' across all persons. Part of the pretérito grave family alongside saber (supe), tener (tuve), and poder (pude).
| To Put | Poner |
|---|---|
| I put | yo puse |
| you put | tú pusiste |
| he/she put | él/ella/usted puso |
| we put | nosotros/as pusimos |
| you put | vosotros/as pusisteis |
| they put | ellos/ellas/ustedes pusieron |
Poner (to put) in context
Sentences that use poner in the preterite. Tap each to hear it.
I put the money in the safe.
Where did you put my charger?
My father turned on the radio during dinner.
We put the suitcases in the car.
You put a lot of effort into this project.
The workers laid the tiles yesterday.
Working with the preterite
The preterite describes a finished past action with a clear boundary — "ayer comí pizza" (yesterday I ate pizza). The key contrast is with the imperfect, which describes ongoing or repeated past actions without a defined endpoint. If you can substitute "used to" or "was doing" in English, you usually want the imperfect; if the action is one-and-done, you want the preterite. The irregular preterites (fui, hice, dije, tuve, vine, supe) are the highest-frequency in Spanish — front-load them.
Frequently asked questions
How do you conjugate poner in the preterite?
What does 'le pusieron Juan' mean?
Should I use 'puse' (preterite) or 'ponía' (imperfect)?
Practice Poner (To Put) in real conversations
TutorLily is your personal language tutor that catches every mistake gently and keeps the conversation going.
3-day free trial · Cancel anytime · 50+ languages
More tenses of Poner (To Put)
More verbs in preterite
Get the app