The preterite of volar is used to express when you flew somewhere at a specific moment in the past. For example, you might say “I flew to Madrid last week,” indicating a completed flight.

This is a regular -ar verb that follows the standard preterite conjugation pattern. The endings are added directly to the stem ‘vol-‘ without any changes.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Volar (to fly) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

The preterite of volar describes completed instances of flight or rapid movement.

Physical Flight: Used for completed air travel or flying, for example Volé a Miami ayer (I flew to Miami yesterday). El pájaro voló lejos (The bird flew far away).

Metaphorical Movement: Can describe things moving quickly or disappearing, for example El tiempo voló (Time flew by). In slang can mean something was destroyed, as in La casa voló en pedazos (The house blew up into pieces).

Examples

Examples of Volar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Volé a Madrid la semana pasada. (I flew to Madrid last week.)

El pájaro voló por la ventana. (The bird flew through the window.)

¿Volaste en primera clase? (Did you fly first class?)

Volamos durante seis horas. (We flew for six hours.)

Las mariposas volaron hacia el jardín. (The butterflies flew towards the garden.)

Volé de noche por primera vez. (I flew at night for the first time.)

El avión voló sobre las montañas. (The plane flew over the mountains.)

¿Por qué no volaste ayer? (Why didn’t you fly yesterday?)

Volamos desde Chicago hasta Miami. (We flew from Chicago to Miami.)

Las hojas secas volaron con el viento. (The dry leaves flew with the wind.)

Volé en un avión pequeño. (I flew in a small plane.)

El globo voló muy alto. (The balloon flew very high.)

Volamos sobre el océano. (We flew over the ocean.)

Los pájaros volaron hacia el sur. (The birds flew south.)

Volaste muy lejos de casa. (You flew very far from home.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Volar (to fly) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish) with English Translations:

This post covers Latin American Spanish. For Castilian 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.