Salir Spanish Past Tense Conjugation: Preterite & Imperfect
In this lesson we we’ll study the Spanish verb ”salir”, which means ‘to go out’ or ‘to leave a place’. Learn how to use it in the past, specifically in the preterite and the imperfect, through relevant examples from daily life situations.
Introducing the Verb Salir
Did you go out last weekend? Where did you use to go out, when you were a child? Did your last exam go well? In order to talk about these topics in Spanish we need the verb salir, whose main meaning is ‘to go out’ or ‘to leave a place’. However, it can be used in different contexts, for example, to talk about how things ‘turned out’.
Uses of the Verb Salir
The main meanings and uses of salir are:
To go out: salir con amigos (to go out with friends), salir a tomar algo (to go have something to drink/eat), salir a pasear (to go for a walk).
To leave a place: salir de casa / de clase / de la oficina (to leave home / school / the office).
Note: Use the preposition de after the verb salir when its meaning is ‘to leave’.
To turn out: salir bien/mal (un examen/un plan) (of an exam / a plan – to go/turn out well/bad).
Salir a pasear (To go for a walk)
paseo
Preterite of Salir
We use the preterite to talk about past actions which are finished or over. Conjugating salir is easy, as it is regular in this conjugation. Just take its stem (sal-) and add the preterite endings below:
Subject Pronouns Salir Conjugation:
Preterite
Pronunciation Translation
yo salí (sah-LEE) I went out/left
tú saliste (sah-LEES-teh) you went out/left
él/ella/usted salió (sah-LYOH) he/she/you (formal)
went out/left
nosotros/nosotras salimos (sah-LEE-mohs) we went out/left
vosotros/vosotras salisteis (sah-LEES-tays) you all went out/left
ellos/ellas/ustedes salieron (sah-LYEH-rohn) they/you all (formal)
went out/left
Example Conversation
Bea is talking with her friend Noelia about their exams. Bea has just finished her semester with very good results.
Bea: El último examen me salió muy bien, así que el viernes salí a tomar algo con unos amigos para celebrarlo. (‘My last exam went very well, so on Friday I went out for a drink with some friends to celebrate’.)
Noelia: Me alegro mucho. (‘I’m very happy!’) ¿Salisteis por el centro? (‘Did you go out in the center?’)
Bea: Sí, salimos por los bares de la plaza y la nueva terraza. (‘Yes, we went out around the bars in the square and the new terrace’.) ¡Tienes que ir! (‘You have to go!’)
El viernes salimos a tomar algo. (On Friday we went out for a drink.)
salirterraza
Imperfect of Salir
We use the imperfect to talk about actions or habits that used to happen at some point in the past. We can use this tense to describe past routines or talk about our childhood.
To conjugate it just add the endings below to the stem (sal-).
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