The preterite of cuidar is used to express when someone took care of something or someone at a specific moment or during a defined period in the past. For example, when you want to say “I took care of my sister’s plants while she was away” – “Cuidé las plantas de mi hermana mientras estaba fuera.”

This verb follows the regular -ar conjugation pattern in the preterite tense, making it straightforward to conjugate with no spelling changes or stem changes required.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Cuidar (to take care of) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of cuidar indicates completed actions of taking care or looking after.

To take care of: Describes looking after someone or something for a specific period, for example Cuidé a mi hermano enfermo (I took care of my sick brother), or Cuidaron la casa durante el verano (They looked after the house during summer).

To guard/protect: Used for protecting something valuable, for example Cuidó el dinero con mucho esmero (She carefully guarded the money).

Examples

Examples of Cuidar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Cuidé a mi hermano mientras estaba enfermo. (I took care of my brother while he was sick.)

¿Quién cuidó las plantas durante las vacaciones? (Who took care of the plants during vacation?)

Los abuelos cuidaron a los niños el fin de semana. (The grandparents took care of the children over the weekend.)

Cuidaste muy bien el jardín este verano. (You took good care of the garden this summer.)

Cuidamos la casa mientras estaban fuera. (We looked after the house while they were away.)

La enfermera cuidó a los pacientes toda la noche. (The nurse took care of the patients all night.)

Cuidaron el museo con mucha dedicación. (They took care of the museum with great dedication.)

Cuidé todos los detalles de la ceremonia. (I took care of all the ceremony details.)

¿Cuidaste bien de ti mismo durante el viaje? (Did you take good care of yourself during the trip?)

Cuidamos el medio ambiente con nuestras acciones. (We took care of the environment with our actions.)

El veterinario cuidó al perro herido. (The veterinarian took care of the injured dog.)

Cuidaron la tradición familiar por generaciones. (They preserved the family tradition for generations.)

Cuidé mi salud mejor que nunca. (I took care of my health better than ever.)

Los guardias cuidaron la entrada del edificio. (The guards watched over the building entrance.)

Cuidamos nuestros recursos sabiamente. (We took care of our resources wisely.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Cuidar (to take care of) 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.