The preterite of manejar is used to express a specific instance of driving in the past. For example, when you want to say “I drove to the beach yesterday” – “Manejé a la playa ayer.”

This verb follows the regular -ar conjugation pattern in the preterite tense, making it straightforward to conjugate with no spelling changes or stem changes required.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Manejar (to drive) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of manejar expresses completed actions of driving or handling.

To drive: Used for completed driving actions, for example Manejé hasta la costa (I drove to the coast), or Manejaron toda la noche (They drove all night).

To handle/manage: Describes managing situations, for example Manejé bien la situación (I handled the situation well).

Examples

Examples of Manejar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Manejé hasta la costa el fin de semana. (I drove to the coast over the weekend.)

Manejó la situación con mucha calma. (He handled the situation very calmly.)

¿Manejaste mi auto ayer? (Did you drive my car yesterday?)

Manejamos toda la noche para llegar a tiempo. (We drove all night to arrive on time.)

Los ejecutivos manejaron la crisis eficientemente. (The executives handled the crisis efficiently.)

Manejé con cuidado bajo la lluvia. (I drove carefully in the rain.)

¿Cómo manejaste ese conflicto? (How did you handle that conflict?)

Manejó el proyecto exitosamente. (She managed the project successfully.)

Manejamos el presupuesto sabiamente. (We managed the budget wisely.)

Los estudiantes manejaron bien el debate. (The students handled the debate well.)

Manejé por primera vez en la autopista. (I drove on the highway for the first time.)

Manejaste tres horas sin descanso. (You drove for three hours without rest.)

El equipo manejó bien la presión. (The team handled the pressure well.)

Manejamos hasta la frontera. (We drove to the border.)

Manejaron el negocio durante décadas. (They managed the business for decades.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Manejar (to drive) 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.