U NIDAD 1 E TAPA 1 P RETERITE V ERBS Spanish 2 Sra. Lear 9/9/10
R EGULAR P RETERITE VERBS The preterite tense tells what happened or what you did. It is used when the action described has already been completed. Regular preterite verbs, like present tense verbs, are formed by adding tense endings to the stem.
-ar -er-ir hablarcomervivir hablé hablaste habló hablamos hablasteis hablaron comí comiste comió comimos comisteis comieron viví viviste vivió vivimos vivisteis vivieron yo tu el, ella, usted nosotros(as) vosotros(as) ellos, ellas, ustedes Notice that regular –er & -ir verbs take the same endings. Subject Pronouns
hablé hablaste habló hablamos hablasteis hablaron viví viviste vivió vivimos vivisteis vivieron The nosotros forms of –ar & ir verbs are the same in the preterite and present tense. The nosotros forms of –ar & ir verbs are the same in the preterite and present tense.
The nosotros forms of –ar and –ir verbs are the same in the preterite and in the present tense. But we can usually tell if someone is referring to the past or present from the context.
ABUELA SAYS: -YO VIAJé A COSTA RICA EL VERANO PASADO. ACAMPAMOS EN UN PARQUE Y CAMINAMOS POR SAN JOSE. (I TRAVELED TO COSTA RICA LAST SUMMER. WE CAMPED IN A PARK AND WALKED THROUGH SAN JOSE.) Even though Abuela uses the words acampamos and caminamos, we know that she is taking about an event that happened in the past because she used the word viajé in the previous sentence.