The preterite of cubrir is used to express when something covered or was covered at a specific point in time. For example, when you want to say “Snow covered the mountain yesterday” – “La nieve cubrió la montaña ayer.”

This verb follows the regular -ir conjugation pattern in the preterite tense. Despite its meaning being similar to some irregular verbs, it maintains a completely regular conjugation pattern.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Cubrir (to cover) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of cubrir expresses completed acts of covering.

To cover (completed action): Describes covering something entirely, for example Cubrí la mesa con un mantel (I covered the table with a tablecloth), or La nieve cubrió toda la ciudad (The snow covered the entire city).

To report/cover news: Used for news coverage, for example Cubrieron el evento deportivo (They covered the sporting event).

Examples

Examples of Cubrir in the Preterite (Past) Tense

La nieve cubrió toda la ciudad. (The snow covered the entire city.)

Cubrí los muebles antes de pintar. (I covered the furniture before painting.)

¿Cubriste todos los gastos del viaje? (Did you cover all the travel expenses?)

Cubrimos la piscina durante el invierno. (We covered the pool during winter.)

Las nubes cubrieron el sol. (The clouds covered the sun.)

El seguro cubrió los daños. (The insurance covered the damages.)

Cubriste muy bien el tema en tu presentación. (You covered the topic very well in your presentation.)

La prensa cubrió el evento. (The press covered the event.)

Cubrimos todas las ventanas durante el huracán. (We covered all the windows during the hurricane.)

Las hojas cubrieron el suelo en otoño. (The leaves covered the ground in autumn.)

Cubrí el pastel con chocolate. (I covered the cake with chocolate.)

El equipo cubrió todas las bases. (The team covered all the bases.)

Cubrieron el grafiti con pintura nueva. (They covered the graffiti with new paint.)

Cubrimos el déficit con nuevos fondos. (We covered the deficit with new funds.)

La niebla cubrió el valle. (The fog covered the valley.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Cubrir (to cover) 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.