El pretérito The preterite review

The preterite is used to express simple past actions completed at a defined time in the past.

-ar verbs Endings for -ar verbs -é -amos -aste - -ó -aron

lavar – to wash lavé lavaste lavó lavamos lavaron Yo ________ la ropa. * Accents Yo ________ la ropa. Yo lavé la ropa.

Translation into English lavar – to wash lavé I washed lavaste you washed lavó he,she,you washed lavamos we washed lavaron they, you washed

The –car, -gar, -zar verbs Irregulars of -ar verbs -ar verbs ending in –car, -gar, -zar have an irregularity It affects the first person singular only. Reason: In Spanish the letter c and g are soft in front of an e. A hard pronunciation is needed. Also, the letter z does not exist in front of an e in Spanish.

therefore….The irregularity in the “yo” form is: For –car verbs the ending would be -qué. Example: tocar – toqué (not tocé) For –gar verbs the ending would be -gué. Example: jugar – jugué (not jugé) For –zar verbs the ending would be -cé. Example: empezar-empecé (not empezé)

tocar – to play toqué tocaste tocó tocamos tocaron Yo __________ la guitarra y Juan la __________ también. Yo toqué la guitarra y Juan la tocó también.

apagar – to turn off apagué apagaste apagó apagamos apagaron

empezar – to begin empecé empezaste empezó empezamos empezaron Leana y Diego ________ la lección pero yo no la _________. Leana y Diego empezaron la lección pero yo no la empecé.

-er verbs Endings for –er verbs -í -imos -iste - -ió -ieron These endings are added to most –er verbs.

correr – to run corrí corriste corrió corrimos corrieron ¿Quién corrió a la fiesta? Who ran to the party? All of the endings begin with the letter “i” í imos iste isteis ió ieron

-ir verbs Endings for –ir verbs -í -imos -iste - -ió -ieron These endings are added to most –ir verbs

escribir – to write escribí escribiste escribió escribimos escribieron Yo escribí en español. I wrote in Spanish The endings are the same as –er verbs í imos iste isteis ió ieron

Present tense –ir stem-changers (boot verbs) also have a stem-change in the preterite tense. The change is a little different. In the preterite they are called the “Slipper Verbs”

When you look up stem-changing verbs in the dictionary, for example: dormir (ue,u) present tense “boot” stem-change / preterite tense “slipper/sandal” stem-change

dormir (ue,u) The “ue” refers to the stem-change in the present tense. duermo duermes duerme dormimos duermen Remember the forms that have the stem-change in the present tense form the boot shape. These are the “boot verbs”. ¿Duermes mucho? Do you sleep a lot?

dormir(ue,u) – to sleep dormí dormiste durmió dormimos durmieron Ella no durmió bien anoche. She did not sleep well last night. The “o” changes to “u” in the 3rd persons only.

REMEMBER!! Present Tense – Boot Verbs / Preterite Tense – Slipper Verbs dormir (ue, u) pedir (i, i) preferir (ie, i) mentir (ie, i) repetir (i, i) sentir (ie, i) We have already learned the Boot Verbs when we learned the present tense. This lección, we are learning the Preterite Slipper Verbs.

pedir(i,i) – to request, ask for pedimos pidieron Ud. pidió la ensalada. You ordered the salad. pedí pediste pidió The “e” changes to “i” in the 3rd persons only.

preferir (ie, i) – to prefer preferiste prefirió preferimos prefirieron Uds. prefirieron español. You prefered Spanish. The “e” changes to “i” in the 3rd persons only.

Just follow the same pattern for any other –ir stem-changers you come upon. Just look for the second vowel after the infinitive: sentir(ie,i) By the way, there are only –ir sandal verbs. -ar or –er verbs do not stem change in the preterite.

–er and –ir verbs Y Slippers -yó / -yeron verbs

leer – to read leí leíste leyó leímos leyeron Leí seis libros para la clase de ingles. I read six books for English class. * “y” replaces the “i” in the 3rd persons. * leyeron is the only form without an accent.

oír – to hear oí oíste oyó oímos oyeron ¿No oíste la fecha del examen? Didn’t you hear the date of the test? * “y” replaces the “i” in the 3rd persons. * oyeron is the only form without an accent.

The irregular preterite verbs

estar – to be estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvieron Estuve en casa ayer. I was at home yesterday. * This verb contains “uv” * There are no accents.

tener – to have tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvieron Tuve que trabajar ayer. I had to work yesterday. * This verb contains “uv” similiar to the preterite conjugation of estar: estuve, estuviste, etc. * There are no accents.

decir – to say, tell *(traer: to bring: traj- same endings) dije dijiste dijo dijimos dijeron Mis padres dijeron que no. My parents said no. * The “c” is replaced by a “j”. * The 3rd person form is –eron. * There are no accents.

hacer – to do, make hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicieron Juan no hizo su tarea. Juan didn’t do his homework. * The “c” is replaced by a “z” in the 3rd person singular form to maintain the soft pronunciation. * There are no accents.

More Irregulars Poner: -Pus Poder: Pud- Andar: Anduv- Querer: Quis- Venir: Vin- Traer: Traj- Decir: Dij-

dar and ver – the irregular “fraternal twins” di diste dio dimos dieron ver vi viste vio vimos vieron No accents

ir and ser – the irregular “identical twins” 1. Nosotros fuimos (we went,were) Nosotras fuimos (we went, were fem.) ___________________________ 3. Ellos fueron (they went, were) Ellas fueron (they went, were fem.) Uds. fueron (you went, were plural) 1. Yo fui (I went, was) __________________________ 2. Tú fuiste (you went,were) 3. Él fue (he went, was) Ella fue (she went, was) Ud. fue (you went, polite were) fue (it is) “it” was implied