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Conjugation Chart

“Necesitar” (to need) in the Preterite (Past) Tense

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Understanding the Preterite (Past) Tense of “Necesitar”

The preterite of necesitar is used to express when you needed something at a specific moment in the past. For example, “I needed your help yesterday” – “Necesité tu ayuda ayer.”

This is a regular -ar verb in the preterite tense. It follows the standard conjugation pattern for -ar verbs without any variations.

How to Use Necesitar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

The Preterite of necesitar indicates specific instances of needing.

To need: Describes a specific moment of requiring something, for example Necesité tu ayuda ayer (I needed your help yesterday), or Necesitaron más tiempo para terminar (They needed more time to finish).

To require/demand: Used for specific instances of requirement, for example El proyecto necesitó muchos recursos (The project required many resources).

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

Necesité tu ayuda ayer. (I needed your help yesterday.)

¿Necesitaste más tiempo para terminar? (Did you need more time to finish?)

Necesitamos un taxi urgentemente. (We needed a taxi urgently.)

El proyecto necesitó más recursos. (The project needed more resources.)

Los estudiantes necesitaron más práctica. (The students needed more practice.)

Necesité dormir después del largo viaje. (I needed to sleep after the long trip.)

¿Por qué necesitaste salir tan temprano? (Why did you need to leave so early?)

El coche necesitó una reparación urgente. (The car needed an urgent repair.)

Necesitamos cancelar la reunión. (We needed to cancel the meeting.)

La planta necesitó más agua. (The plant needed more water.)

Necesitaron contratar más personal. (They needed to hire more staff.)

Necesité un paraguas esta mañana. (I needed an umbrella this morning.)

El equipo necesitó más tiempo de preparación. (The team needed more preparation time.)

Necesitaste mucho valor para hacerlo. (You needed a lot of courage to do it.)

Necesitamos encontrar una solución rápida. (We needed to find a quick solution.)

Conjugation Chart with English Translations

Conjugations of Necesitar (to need) in the Preterite (Past) 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.