The preterite of acostar is used to express when someone put someone to bed at a specific moment in the past. For example, when you want to say “I put the children to bed at 8 PM” – “Acosté a los niños a las ocho.”

This verb follows the regular -ar conjugation pattern in the preterite tense. While it’s often used reflexively (acostarse – to go to bed), in this form it refers to putting someone else to bed.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Acostar (to put to bed) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of acostar indicates specific acts of putting to bed or lying down.

To put to bed: Used for putting someone to sleep, for example Acosté al niño temprano (I put the child to bed early).

To lie down: Refers to the act of going to bed, for example Se acostaron a las diez (They went to bed at ten).

Examples

Examples of Acostar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Acosté al bebé en su cuna. (I put the baby to bed in his crib.)

¿A qué hora te acostaste anoche? (What time did you go to bed last night?)

Mi hermana acostó a los niños temprano. (My sister put the children to bed early.)

Nos acostamos tarde después de la fiesta. (We went to bed late after the party.)

Los padres acostaron a sus hijos a las ocho. (The parents put their children to bed at eight.)

Me acosté con dolor de cabeza. (I went to bed with a headache.)

¿Por qué te acostaste tan temprano? (Why did you go to bed so early?)

La niñera acostó a los gemelos. (The babysitter put the twins to bed.)

Nos acostamos exhaustos después del viaje. (We went to bed exhausted after the trip.)

Se acostaron sin cenar. (They went to bed without dinner.)

Acosté al perro en su cama nueva. (I put the dog in his new bed.)

Te acostaste sin despedirte. (You went to bed without saying goodbye.)

La abuela acostó a su nieta con un cuento. (The grandmother put her granddaughter to bed with a story.)

Nos acostamos al amanecer. (We went to bed at dawn.)

Los niños se acostaron después del programa. (The children went to bed after the show.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Acostar (to put to bed) 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.