terminó

Terminó is the third-person singular form of the Spanish verb terminar in the pretérito indefinido (preterite) indicative. It translates to “he finished,” “she finished,” or “you finished” in the formal sense (usted). It is used to describe actions or events that were completed at a definite point in the past.

Origin and morphology: terminar comes from Latin terminus, with the stem termin- plus the infinitive ending -ar. The pretérito indefinido endings for regular -ar verbs are -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron; thus terminó corresponds to the él/ella/usted form. Like other conjugated forms, it bears an accent on the final syllable to indicate stress.

Usage notes: Terminó is commonly employed in narrative and reporting to mark a completed past event. It often appears with time expressions such as ayer, la semana pasada, finalmente, or por fin. It contrasts with present tense forms like termina (he/she finishes) and with other past tenses such as imperfect terminaba (he/she was finishing).

Examples:

- El proyecto terminó ayer.

- Ella terminó el informe antes del plazo.

- ¿Terminó la película a tiempo?

See also: terminar, pretérito indefinido, conjugaciones en español. Terminó is a regular verb form and follows standard -ar verb conjugation patterns in Spanish.