The preterite of llamar is used to express when someone called or phoned at a specific moment in the past. For example, “I called my mother yesterday” – “Llamé a mi madre ayer.”

This is a regular -ar verb in the preterite tense. It follows the standard conjugation pattern without any spelling changes or irregularities.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Llamar (to call) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of llamar describes completed actions of calling or naming.

To call/phone: Used for specific instances of calling someone, for example Llamé al médico ayer (I called the doctor yesterday), or Me llamaron esta mañana (They called me this morning).

To name/designate: Refers to giving names, for example Lo llamaron Pablo (They named him Pablo).

Examples

Examples of Llamar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Llamé a mi madre ayer por la noche. (I called my mother last night.)

¿Por qué no me llamaste? (Why didn’t you call me?)

El doctor llamó para dar los resultados. (The doctor called to give the results.)

Llamamos a emergencias inmediatamente. (We called emergency services immediately.)

Los niños llamaron a la puerta. (The children knocked on the door.)

¿Quién te llamó tan tarde? (Who called you so late?)

Llamaste la atención de todos. (You caught everyone’s attention.)

Me llamó la atención su comportamiento. (Their behavior caught my attention.)

Llamamos un taxi para volver a casa. (We called a taxi to return home.)

Los estudiantes llamaron al profesor. (The students called the teacher.)

Llamé tres veces pero nadie contestó. (I called three times but nobody answered.)

¿Llamaste para confirmar la reserva? (Did you call to confirm the reservation?)

Me llamó la atención ese libro. (That book caught my attention.)

Llamamos a todos los invitados. (We called all the guests.)

Llamaron a la policía por el ruido. (They called the police because of the noise.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Llamar (to call) 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.