The preterite of escuchar is used to express a completed action of listening in the past. For example, you might say “I listened to the entire concert,” indicating a specific instance of hearing something from start to finish.

This is a regular -ar verb that follows the standard preterite conjugation pattern. Its conjugations are formed by adding the regular preterite endings to the stem ‘escuch-‘.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Escuchar (to listen) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

The preterite of escuchar expresses completed instances of listening. Listening Action: Indicates actively listening to something specific, for example, escuché todo el concierto (I listened to the whole concert). Attention: Used for paying attention to someone speaking, for example, escucharon el discurso completo (they listened to the complete speech). Hearing: Can refer to hearing something specific, for example, escuchó un ruido extraño (he/she heard a strange noise).

Examples

Examples of Escuchar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Escuché un ruido extraño anoche. (I heard a strange noise last night.)

¿Escuchaste las noticias esta mañana? (Did you listen to the news this morning?)

Ella escuchó toda la conversación. (She listened to the entire conversation.)

Escuchamos un concierto increíble. (We listened to an amazing concert.)

Los estudiantes escucharon atentamente la lección. (The students listened attentively to the lesson.)

Escuché su consejo y funcionó. (I listened to their advice and it worked.)

¿Escuchaste lo que dijo el profesor? (Did you hear what the teacher said?)

El juez escuchó a todos los testigos. (The judge listened to all the witnesses.)

Escuchamos música toda la noche. (We listened to music all night.)

Los niños escucharon un cuento antes de dormir. (The children listened to a story before bed.)

Escuché pasos en el pasillo. (I heard footsteps in the hallway.)

El doctor escuchó los latidos del corazón. (The doctor listened to the heartbeat.)

Escuchamos el partido por la radio. (We listened to the game on the radio.)

La policía escuchó la declaración del testigo. (The police listened to the witness’s statement.)

Los fans escucharon el nuevo álbum. (The fans listened to the new album.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Escuchar (to listen) 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.