The preterite of esperar is used to express when someone waited for something at a specific moment in the past. For example, when you want to say “I waited for the bus for an hour” – “Esperé el autobús durante una hora.”

This verb follows the regular -ar conjugation pattern in the preterite tense. While it can mean both ‘to wait’ and ‘to hope’, in the preterite it most commonly refers to the act of waiting.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Esperar (to wait/hope) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of esperar indicates completed periods of waiting or hoping.

To wait: Describes a specific period of waiting that ended, for example Esperé dos horas en el aeropuerto (I waited two hours at the airport), or Esperamos hasta las cinco (We waited until five).

To hope/expect: Used for past expectations, for example No esperé que fuera tan difícil (I didn’t expect it to be so difficult).

Examples

Examples of Esperar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Esperé dos horas en el aeropuerto. (I waited for two hours at the airport.)

¿Cuánto tiempo esperaste? (How long did you wait?)

Esperó pacientemente su turno. (He waited patiently for his turn.)

Esperamos hasta que dejó de llover. (We waited until it stopped raining.)

Los niños esperaron el autobús escolar. (The children waited for the school bus.)

Esperé tu llamada toda la noche. (I waited for your call all night.)

¿Por qué no me esperaste? (Why didn’t you wait for me?)

Esperó el momento adecuado. (She waited for the right moment.)

Esperamos noticias durante días. (We waited for news for days.)

Esperaron en la fila por horas. (They waited in line for hours.)

No esperé que fuera tan difícil. (I didn’t expect it to be so difficult.)

Esperaste demasiado tiempo para actuar. (You waited too long to act.)

La película no esperó a nadie. (The movie didn’t wait for anyone.)

Esperamos lo mejor del proyecto. (We expected the best from the project.)

Esperaron hasta el último minuto. (They waited until the last minute.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Esperar (to wait/hope) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish) with English Translations:

This post covers Castilian Spanish. For Latin American Spanish, click here

Synonyms

The Preterite tense is also known as the Simple Past, Past Simple, Definite Past, Absolute Past, or Past Tense Indicative in English, and as Pretérito Perfecto Simple, Pretérito Indefinido, Pretérito Simple, Pasado Simple, or Pretérito de Indicativo in Spanish.