The preterite of mirar is used to express when someone looked at or watched something at a specific moment in the past. For example, “We watched the sunset yesterday” – “Miramos la puesta del sol ayer.”

This verb follows the regular -ar conjugation pattern in the preterite tense. It’s one of the most straightforward verbs to conjugate as it follows all regular patterns without any changes.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Mirar (to look at/watch) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The Preterite of mirar expresses a completed action of looking or watching.

To look at/watch: Describes a specific instance of viewing, for example Miré el programa completo (I watched the entire program), or Miraron las estrellas toda la noche (They watched the stars all night).

To examine/check: Indicates inspection, for example Miré el contrato antes de firmarlo (I looked at the contract before signing it).

Examples

Examples of Mirar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Miré las estrellas toda la noche. (I watched the stars all night.)

¿Miraste el nuevo episodio ayer? (Did you watch the new episode yesterday?)

Miró el reloj con preocupación. (He/she looked at the clock with concern.)

Miramos el atardecer desde la playa. (We watched the sunset from the beach.)

Los turistas miraron asombrados la catedral. (The tourists looked at the cathedral in amazement.)

Miraste en la dirección equivocada. (You looked in the wrong direction.)

Miró por la ventana durante horas. (He/she looked out the window for hours.)

Miramos el partido en casa de Juan. (We watched the game at Juan’s house.)

Miraron los documentos con atención. (They looked at the documents carefully.)

Miré tu mensaje pero no pude responder. (I saw your message but couldn’t reply.)

¿Por qué me miraste así? (Why did you look at me like that?)

Miró la fotografía con nostalgia. (He/she looked at the photograph with nostalgia.)

Miramos el mapa para orientarnos. (We looked at the map to orient ourselves.)

Miraron el eclipse con gafas especiales. (They watched the eclipse with special glasses.)

Miré hacia atrás antes de cruzar la calle. (I looked back before crossing the street.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Mirar (to look at/watch) 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.