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Conjugation Chart of “Jugar” (to play) in the Preterite (Past) Tense

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Understanding the Preterite (Past) Tense of “Jugar”

The preterite of jugar is used to express when you played something on a specific occasion in the past. For example, you might say “I played soccer yesterday afternoon,” indicating a completed period of play.

This is an irregular verb in the preterite, with a spelling change from ‘g’ to ‘gu’ before ‘e’ to maintain the hard ‘g’ sound in the first person singular form.

How to Use Jugar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

The preterite of jugar describes completed instances of playing.

Played: Indicates a specific instance of playing a game or sport, for example Jugué fútbol el domingo (I played soccer on Sunday). Also used for gambling, as in Jugó a las cartas y perdió (He/she played cards and lost).

Fooled around: In colloquial usage, can mean messing around, for example Jugaron con mis sentimientos (They played with my feelings).

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

Jugué fútbol toda la tarde. (I played soccer all afternoon.)

¿Jugaste videojuegos ayer? (Did you play video games yesterday?)

Mi hermano jugó ajedrez con papá. (My brother played chess with dad.)

Jugamos cartas hasta la medianoche. (We played cards until midnight.)

Los niños jugaron en el parque. (The children played in the park.)

Jugué tenis por primera vez. (I played tennis for the first time.)

¿Por qué no jugaste con nosotros? (Why didn’t you play with us?)

El equipo jugó muy bien. (The team played very well.)

Jugamos voleibol en la playa. (We played volleyball at the beach.)

Los músicos jugaron con nuevos ritmos. (The musicians played with new rhythms.)

Jugué con mi perro en el jardín. (I played with my dog in the garden.)

¿Jugaste básquetbol el fin de semana? (Did you play basketball on the weekend?)

Mi prima jugó con sus muñecas. (My cousin played with her dolls.)

Jugamos al escondite. (We played hide and seek.)

Los estudiantes jugaron durante el recreo. (The students played during recess.)

Conjugation Chart with English Translations

Conjugations of Jugar (to play) in the Preterite (Past) 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.