El Preterito  talks about something that happened in the past.  It is used when the action described has already been completed.  Regular preterite verbs, like present tense verbs, are formed by adding tense endings.

Preterite –ar verbs  Ejemplo: Hablar Yo -éNosotros -amos Tú -aste- Él, ella -ó usted Ellos, ellas -aron ustedes Habléhablamos hablaste- hablóhablaron

Preterite –er & -ir verbs  Ejemplo: Comer Vivir Yo -íNosotros -imos Tú -iste- Él, ella -ió usted Ellos, ellas - ieron ustedes comícomimos comiste- comiócomieron vivívivimos viviste- vivióvivieron * Regular –er and –ir verbs take the same endings.

 The nosotros form 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 the present from the context. Abuela says: -Yo viajé a Costa Rica el verano pasado. Acampamos en un parque y caminamos por San José. I traveled to Costa Rica last summer. We camped in a park and walked through San José. Even though Abuela uses the words acampamos y caminamos, we know that she is talking about an event in the past because she used the word viajé in the previous sentence.

Preterite: -car, -gar, -zar  In the preterite, verbs that end in –car, -gar, -zar are spelled differently in the yo form. The spelling changed in order to keep the pronunciation the same.  c qu sacar yo saqué  z calmorzar yo almorcé  g gujugar yo jugué

 Verbs with –car, -gar, -zar Spelling Changes c quExplicar (to explain) Buscar ( to look for) practicar ( to practice) Tocar(to touch, to play an instrument) z ccomenzar (e – ie) (to start) empezar (e-ie) (to begin) g gu llegar ( to arrive) pagar ( to pay)

 An unaccented i between two vowels changes to y. Papá lo leyó ayer. ( verb leer in the él form) = leió = leyó No oyeron las noticias.

 The verbs ir, ser, and hacer, which are very common, are irregular in the preterite. * Ir and ser have the same irregular forms. irSerhacer yoFui Hice túFuiste Hiciste Él, ella, usted Fue Hizo nosotrosFuimos Hicimos Ellos, ellas, ustedes Fueron hicieron

Adjectives of Nationality  Adjectives of a nationality whose singular masculine form ends in –o have a feminine form ending in –a. the plural of these adjectives is formed by adding –s. argentinochinohondureñosalvadoreñochileno bolivianodominicanoitalianoguatemaltecosueco brasileñoecuatorianomexicanosuizo colombianoeuropeoparaguayouruguayo coreanofilipinoperuano venezolano Cubanogriegopuertorriqueñoruso Singularplural MasculineColombianoColomianos FeminineColombianacolombianas

Adjectives of Nationality  Adjectives of nationality whos singluar form ends in –e, -a, or an accented í have only one form which is masculine and feminine. Canadiensemarroquíisraelita Costarricensenicaragüensevietnamita Estadounidensepaquistaní SingularPlural Masc. & Fem.Canadiense Israelita paquistaní Canadienses Israelitas paquistaníes

Adjectives of nationality  Adjectives of nationality that end in a consonant from the feminine singular by adding –a. The plural of these adjectives is formed by adding –es to masculine adjectives and –s to feminine ones. Alemanfrancésirlandés Escocésholandésjaponés Españolinglésportugués SingularPlural Masculineespañol japonés españoles japoneses Feminineespañola japonesa españolas japonesas