The preterite of repetir is used to describe a specific instance of repeating something in the past. For example, you might say “I repeated the question one more time,” indicating a completed action of repeating at a particular moment.

This is an e to i stem-changing verb, which means the ‘e’ in the stem changes to ‘i’ in certain conjugations. In the preterite, this stem change occurs only in the third person singular and plural forms.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Repetir (to repeat) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

The Preterite of repetir expresses specific instances of repetition or restatement.

To repeat: Used for specific instances of saying or doing something again, for example, Repitió la pregunta tres veces (He/she repeated the question three times).

To do over: Indicates redoing an action, for example, Repetí el examen el viernes (I retook the exam on Friday).

Examples

Examples of Repetir in the Preterite (Past) Tense

El profesor repitió la explicación para que todos entendieran. (The teacher repeated the explanation so everyone would understand.)

Repetí el ejercicio tres veces para mejorar mi técnica. (I repeated the exercise three times to improve my technique.)

¿Por qué repetiste el curso? (Why did you repeat the course?)

Repetimos la canción hasta aprenderla bien. (We repeated the song until we learned it well.)

Los actores repitieron la escena varias veces. (The actors repeated the scene several times.)

El eco repitió nuestras voces en la montaña. (The echo repeated our voices in the mountain.)

Repetiste las mismas palabras que tu hermano. (You repeated the same words as your brother.)

La historia se repitió como la última vez. (History repeated itself like last time.)

Repetimos el experimento para verificar los resultados. (We repeated the experiment to verify the results.)

El coro repitió el estribillo al final. (The choir repeated the chorus at the end.)

Repetí tu número de teléfono para asegurarme. (I repeated your phone number to make sure.)

Ellos repitieron el pedido porque hubo un error. (They repeated the order because there was an error.)

Repetiste el mismo error varias veces. (You repeated the same mistake several times.)

Repetimos las instrucciones para los nuevos empleados. (We repeated the instructions for the new employees.)

La radio repitió la noticia cada hora. (The radio repeated the news every hour.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Repetir (to repeat) 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.