The preterite of prevenir is used to express when someone prevented or warned about something at a specific moment in the past. For example, when you want to say “I warned him about the danger” – “Lo previne del peligro.”

This is an irregular verb in the preterite tense. Following the pattern of venir, it uses the stem ‘previn-‘ throughout all forms.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Prevenir (to prevent) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of prevenir indicates completed actions of prevention or warning.

To prevent: Used for successful prevention of something, for example Previne un accidente (I prevented an accident), or Previnieron la propagación de la enfermedad (They prevented the spread of the disease).

To warn: Describes warning someone about something specific, for example Me previno del peligro (He warned me about the danger).

Examples

Examples of Prevenir in the Preterite (Past) Tense

El doctor me previno sobre los riesgos. (The doctor warned me about the risks.)

Previne a todos sobre la tormenta que se acercaba. (I warned everyone about the approaching storm.)

La policía previno a los vecinos del peligro. (The police warned the neighbors about the danger.)

Nos previnieron sobre los posibles retrasos. (They warned us about possible delays.)

Previniste el accidente con tu rápida acción. (You prevented the accident with your quick action.)

Previnimos muchos problemas con una buena planificación. (We prevented many problems with good planning.)

El guardia previno el robo. (The guard prevented the theft.)

Los expertos previnieron la crisis económica. (The experts prevented the economic crisis.)

Me previno sobre las consecuencias. (He/she warned me about the consequences.)

Previnieron el colapso del sistema. (They prevented the system collapse.)

¿Por qué no me previniste antes? (Why didn’t you warn me before?)

El sistema de seguridad previno el ataque informático. (The security system prevented the cyber attack.)

Previne a mi hermano sobre el mal tiempo. (I warned my brother about the bad weather.)

Las autoridades previnieron el desastre. (The authorities prevented the disaster.)

Previnimos a todos los empleados del cambio. (We warned all employees about the change.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Prevenir (to prevent) 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.