The preterite of amanecer is used to express when dawn occurred or how someone “dawned” (woke up feeling a certain way) in the past. For example, you might say “I woke up happy yesterday morning,” using “amanecí feliz” to describe your state at dawn.

While primarily used as an impersonal weather verb, amanecer follows the regular -er verb pattern in the preterite when used metaphorically to describe someone’s state at dawn.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Amanecer (to dawn) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

The preterite of amanecer describes the completion of dawn or awakening.

Natural Dawn: Used for describing daybreak, for example Amaneció nublado (It dawned cloudy). Most commonly used in third person as in Cuando amaneció, salimos (When it dawned, we left).

Metaphorical Dawn: Can describe waking up or finding oneself in a state, for example Amanecí con dolor de cabeza (I woke up with a headache). Used in expressions like Amaneció de buen humor (He woke up in a good mood).

Examples

Examples of Amanecer in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Amanecí con dolor de cabeza. (I woke up with a headache.)

Amaneció nublado ayer. (It dawned cloudy yesterday.)

¿Cómo amaneciste hoy? (How did you wake up today?)

Amanecimos con la noticia del terremoto. (We woke up to the news of the earthquake.)

Los turistas amanecieron en la playa. (The tourists woke up at the beach.)

Amaneció nevando en la montaña. (It dawned snowing in the mountain.)

Amanecí de buen humor. (I woke up in a good mood.)

¿Amaneciste mejor del resfriado? (Did you wake up better from your cold?)

Amaneció un día precioso. (A beautiful day dawned.)

Amanecimos sin electricidad. (We woke up without electricity.)

Los campistas amanecieron con frío. (The campers woke up cold.)

Amaneció lloviendo fuertemente. (It dawned raining heavily.)

¿Dónde amaneciste después de la fiesta? (Where did you wake up after the party?)

Amanecimos cansados del viaje. (We woke up tired from the trip.)

Amaneció con un cielo despejado. (It dawned with a clear sky.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Amanecer (to dawn) 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.