The preterite of trabajar is used to express a specific period of working in the past. For example, you might say “I worked at the company for five years,” indicating a completed period of employment with defined start and end points.

This is a regular -ar verb that follows the standard preterite conjugation pattern. The endings are added directly to the stem ‘trabaj-‘ without any changes.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Trabajar (to work) in the Preterite (Past) Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

The preterite of trabajar describes completed periods of work or effort.

Employment: Used for specific instances of working, for example Trabajé diez horas ayer (I worked ten hours yesterday). Trabajamos juntos en ese proyecto (We worked together on that project).

Effort: Can describe dedicated effort toward a goal, for example Trabajó duro para conseguirlo (He worked hard to achieve it). Also used in expressions like La medicina trabajó bien (The medicine worked well).

Examples

Examples of Trabajar in the Preterite (Past) Tense

Trabajé hasta tarde anoche. (I worked late last night.)

¿Dónde trabajaste el año pasado? (Where did you work last year?)

Mi padre trabajó en esa empresa por veinte años. (My father worked at that company for twenty years.)

Trabajamos juntos en el proyecto. (We worked together on the project.)

Los voluntarios trabajaron sin descanso. (The volunteers worked tirelessly.)

Trabajé como mesero durante la universidad. (I worked as a waiter during college.)

¿Por qué trabajaste el fin de semana? (Why did you work on the weekend?)

Ella trabajó desde casa ayer. (She worked from home yesterday.)

Trabajamos horas extra esta semana. (We worked overtime this week.)

Los artistas trabajaron en la exposición. (The artists worked on the exhibition.)

Trabajé en varios proyectos simultáneamente. (I worked on several projects simultaneously.)

¿Trabajaste durante las vacaciones? (Did you work during the vacation?)

El equipo trabajó bien bajo presión. (The team worked well under pressure.)

Trabajamos todo el día sin parar. (We worked all day without stopping.)

Los estudiantes trabajaron en sus tesis. (The students worked on their theses.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Trabajar (to work) 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.