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Conjugation Chart of “Calentar” (to heat) in the Preterite (Past) Tense

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Understanding the Preterite (Past) Tense of “Calentar”

The preterite of calentar is used to express when you heated something at a specific moment in the past. For example, when you want to say “I heated the soup for lunch” – “Calenté la sopa para el almuerzo.”

This verb follows the regular -ar conjugation pattern in the preterite tense. Unlike in other tenses, there are no stem changes in the preterite.

How to Use Calentar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

The Preterite of calentar indicates completed actions of heating or warming.

To heat/warm up: Used for specific instances of heating something, for example Calenté la sopa en el microondas (I heated the soup in the microwave), or El sol calentó la tierra (The sun warmed the earth).

To warm up (sports): Describes warming up before an activity, for example Los jugadores calentaron antes del partido (The players warmed up before the game).

Real Life Examples of Calentar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Calenté la sopa en el microondas. (I heated the soup in the microwave.)

El sol calentó la tierra durante todo el día. (The sun heated the earth all day.)

Los atletas calentaron antes del partido. (The athletes warmed up before the game.)

Calentamos la casa con la chimenea. (We heated the house with the fireplace.)

¿Calentaste el agua para el té? (Did you heat the water for tea?)

El motor se calentó demasiado. (The engine got too hot.)

Calentaron el almuerzo en la oficina. (They heated up lunch at the office.)

Me calenté las manos junto al fuego. (I warmed my hands by the fire.)

El equipo calentó durante media hora. (The team warmed up for half an hour.)

Calentamos la comida que sobró de ayer. (We heated up the leftover food from yesterday.)

El ambiente se calentó durante la discusión. (The atmosphere heated up during the discussion.)

Calentaste demasiado la leche. (You heated the milk too much.)

Los bailarines calentaron antes del espectáculo. (The dancers warmed up before the show.)

Calenté el coche antes de salir. (I warmed up the car before leaving.)

El sol calentó la piscina durante el día. (The sun heated the pool during the day.)

Conjugation Chart with English Translations

Conjugations of Calentar (to heat) in the Preterite (Past) 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.