The preterite of almorzar is used to express when you had lunch at a specific time in the past. For example, when you want to say “I had lunch with my friends yesterday” – “Almorcé con mis amigos ayer.”

This verb follows the -zar spelling-changing pattern in the preterite. Like other -zar verbs, the ‘z’ changes to ‘c’ before ‘e’ to maintain the same sound, which occurs in the yo form (almorcé).

Conjugations

Conjugations of Almorzar (to have lunch) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of almorzar expresses a completed action of having lunch.

To have lunch: Describes a specific instance of eating lunch, for example Almorcé con mis colegas (I had lunch with my colleagues), or Almorzaron en el restaurante (They had lunch at the restaurant).

To dine at midday: Refers to having the main meal of the day, for example Almorzamos temprano (We had lunch early).

Examples

Examples of Almorzar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Ayer almorcé con mis colegas en un restaurante nuevo. (Yesterday I had lunch with my colleagues at a new restaurant.)

¿Dónde almorzaste durante tu visita? (Where did you have lunch during your visit?)

Ella almorzó sola en su oficina. (She had lunch alone in her office.)

Almorzamos temprano antes de la reunión. (We had lunch early before the meeting.)

Los ejecutivos almorzaron mientras discutían el proyecto. (The executives had lunch while discussing the project.)

¿A qué hora almorzaste hoy? (What time did you have lunch today?)

Almorcé un sándwich rápidamente. (I quickly had a sandwich for lunch.)

Ellos almorzaron en el parque. (They had lunch in the park.)

Almorzamos comida típica durante el viaje. (We had traditional food for lunch during the trip.)

El equipo almorzó junto después del entrenamiento. (The team had lunch together after training.)

¿Almorzaste algo antes de salir? (Did you have anything for lunch before leaving?)

Nunca almorcé en ese restaurante. (I never had lunch at that restaurant.)

Almorzaron tarde debido al tráfico. (They had lunch late due to traffic.)

Almorzamos con los clientes importantes. (We had lunch with the important clients.)

Mi jefe almorzó con el nuevo empleado. (My boss had lunch with the new employee.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Almorzar (to have lunch) 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.