El pretérito You may remember reading about the use of the preterit- that it is used for “completed actions”. The acronym SOFIA will help you remember.

Presentación del tema: "El pretérito You may remember reading about the use of the preterit- that it is used for “completed actions”. The acronym SOFIA will help you remember."— Transcripción de la presentación:

1 El pretérito You may remember reading about the use of the preterit- that it is used for “completed actions”. The acronym SOFIA will help you remember the distinct uses of the preterit, just as PWATER and DUWIT help you to remember the uses of the imperfect.

2 S O F I A S – start, or beginning of an action look for words like : primero, al principio, the beginning of a day, event, etc.. look for any of the key words: ayer, el otro día, etc…(complete list www.studyspanish.com)www.studyspanish O- order of events, when things happen in a sequence. look for ordinal numbers, entonces, después, antes.

3 F- finish, the end, indicates that the event is over- done.. I – interrupting action, if another action is occurring “in the background”, and another action “interrupts”, the interrupting action is in the preterite, while the “background” action is in the imperfect. Yo estaba leyendo cuando mi mamá me llamó imperfecto(background action) pretérito(interrupting) I was reading when my mom called me.

4 Acciones que interrumpen Patinábamos en el hielo, cuando me caí. imperfecto pretérito Decide cual de los verbos es la acción que interrumpe la otra: Jugaban un partido de beísbol, cuando empezó a llover. Yo conducía al colegio cuando un perro cruzó la calle enfrente del carro. Juancho dormía profundamente, cuando su hermano le echó agua en la cara.

5 A- action-oriented The preterit is an “action tense”. It keeps a story moving. Any background information or descriptive characteristics would be in the imperfect. Look at the example below, and the explanation as to why the pret. or imperfect were used. Ejemplo: Todos los veranos, íbamos a la playa. Un día, llegamos a nuestra casa y descubrimos que había otra familia allí. Every summer, we used to go to the beach. (imperfect - used to do) One day, we arrived at our house and discovered (sequence, moves along) …that there was another familia there. (imperfect – describes)

6 Try some of your own sentences using SOFIA S- start or beginning _______________________________________. O – order or secuencia _______________________________________. F – finish _______________________________________. I – interrupting action(you will use the pret and imp.) ________________________________________. A- action-oriented ___________________________________________