The preterite of llegar is used to express a completed arrival in the past. For example, you might say “I arrived at the airport at midnight,” indicating the specific moment when you reached your destination.

This verb requires a spelling change in the first person singular (yo) form, where ‘g’ changes to ‘gu’ before ‘e’ to maintain the same sound. Other forms follow the regular -ar verb pattern.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Llegar (to arrive) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

The preterite of llegar expresses completed arrivals. Arrival: Indicates reaching a destination at a specific time, for example, llegué tarde a la reunión (I arrived late to the meeting). Achievement: Used to express reaching a goal or state, for example, llegó a ser presidente (he/she became president). Beginning: Can indicate when something began to happen, for example, llegó el momento de partir (the moment to leave arrived).

Examples

Examples of Llegar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Llegué tarde al trabajo esta mañana. (I arrived late to work this morning.)

El tren llegó con retraso. (The train arrived late.)

¿A qué hora llegaste a casa? (What time did you arrive home?)

Llegamos justo a tiempo para la película. (We arrived just in time for the movie.)

Los invitados llegaron temprano a la fiesta. (The guests arrived early to the party.)

Mi hermana llegó sin avisar. (My sister arrived without notice.)

¿Por qué llegaste tan tarde? (Why did you arrive so late?)

El paquete llegó esta mañana. (The package arrived this morning.)

Llegamos cansados del viaje. (We arrived tired from the trip.)

Los estudiantes llegaron después del profesor. (The students arrived after the professor.)

Llegué a la conclusión correcta. (I arrived at the right conclusion.)

¿Llegaste bien a tu destino? (Did you arrive safely at your destination?)

El avión llegó con dos horas de retraso. (The plane arrived two hours late.)

Llegamos al hotel al anochecer. (We arrived at the hotel at nightfall.)

Todos llegaron puntuales a la reunión. (Everyone arrived on time to the meeting.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Llegar (to arrive) 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.