prefirió

Prefirió is the third-person singular form of the Spanish verb preferir in the preterite tense. It translates as "he/she/you (formal) preferred" and is used to describe a past choice or preference that occurred at a specific time.

Conjugation and morphology: Preferir is a stem-changing -ir verb. In the preterite, the stem changes from e to i in the él/ella/usted and ellos/ellas/ustedes forms: él prefirió and ellos prefirieron. The other preterite forms are yo preferí, tú preferiste, nosotros preferimos, vosotros preferisteis. This makes prefirió one of the standard irregular preterite forms.

Usage: Prefirió is used to express a definite past preference. It can describe choosing between options (prefirió el té al café) or deciding not to do something (prefirió no ir). It contrasts with the imperfect form prefería, which signals a habitual past preference or a softer, ongoing tendency, and with the conditional form preferiría, which conveys hypothetical or future preference.

Examples:

- Ayer, María prefirió quedarse en casa.

- Él prefirió el libro A al libro B.

- Ella prefirió no ir.

Etymology: The verb comes from Latin praeferre, meaning to carry before or to prefer, formed from prae- plus ferre (to bear). In Spanish, preferir retains the meaning with a stem change in some past forms.

See also: Spanish verb conjugation, preferir, irregular verbs in pretérito.