What happened? A completed action. El Pretérito: What happened? A completed action.
Cuando se usa? The preterite tense is used to refer to actions that occurred at a fixed point in time. The preterite tense is also used to refer to actions in the past that were performed a specific number of times. The preterite is sued for past actions that were a part of a chain of events.
Frases comunes Ayer* yesterday ayer por la mañana yesterday morning ayer por la tarde yesterday afternoon anteayer* the day before yesterday anoche* last night desde el primer momento from the first moment después afterwards durante dos siglos for two centuries el año pasado * last year el lunes por la noche Monday night el mes pasado* last month el otro día* the other day en ese momento at that moment entonces then esta mañana* this morning esta tarde* this afternoon hace dos días, años two days, years ago la semana pasada* last week
The stem for regular verbs in the pretérito is the infinitive stem. Tomar tom- Hablar habl- Comer com- Beber beb- Abrir abr- Salir sal-
Pretérito endings for -ar verbs are: -é -amos -aste -asteis -ó -aron
Pretérito endings for –er/-ir verbs are: -í -imos -iste -isteis -ió -ieron
Remember: accents on the “yo” form and the “él / ella / Ud.” form -ar / -ir “nosotros” form is the same in present and pretérito
buscar tocar practicar almorzar empezar comenzar Unos irregulares: Verbs ending in -car, -gar, and -zar have a spelling change in the “yo” form of the pretérito. The “yo” form of the pretérito changes to conserve the sound of the infinitive: buscar tocar practicar pagar jugar llegar almorzar empezar comenzar
Por ejemplo -car -gar -zar “-qué” “-gué” “-cé” “tocé” “jugé” “rezé”
Algunos verbos irregulares You have learned that the preterite is used to tell what happened or what you did. You also learned that regular preterite verbs attach specific tense endings to the stem. The verbs IR, SER, y HACER are frequently used in the preterite and these are your conjugations: HACER HICE HICIMOS HICISTE HIZO HICIERON IR FUI FUIMOS FUISTE FUE FUERON SER FUI FUIMOS FUISTE FUE FUERON
Algunos verbos irregulares The verbs DAR y VER take regular –er/-ir past tense endings in the preterite but have no written accents marks. DAR DI DIMOS DISTE DIO DIERON VER VI VIMOS VISTE VIO VIERON