El Pretérito

The PRETERITE tense is used to talk about completed actions in the past. It is used: in telling stories and for events that were completed in the past. for actions in the past which happened only once. for actions that were repeated but finished in the past. for actions that were part of a chain of events. for actions that took place over a specific period of time. Useful expressions of time: ayer, anteayer, la semana pasada, el mes/año pasado, el otro día, hace dos días/semanas/meses, el domingo, en 1950, en Navidad… Examples: Viví cinco años en Madrid. I lived in Madrid for five years. Él cenó, vio la tele y se acostó. He had dinner, watched TV and went to bed. Ayer te llamé por teléfono. I rang you yesterday.

El pretérito es usado para hablar de acciones que fueron completadas en el pasado. Para contar historias y eventos que ya terminaron en el pasado. Para eventos en el pasado que sucedieron una sola vez. Para acciones repetidas, pero que ya terminaron en el pasado. Para acciones que sucedieron en un determinado punto en el tiempo. Expresiones útiles: ayer, anteayer, la semana pasada, el mes/año pasado, el otro día, hace dos días/semanas/meses, el domingo, en 1950, en Navidad… Examples: Viví cinco años en Madrid. I lived in Madrid for five years. Él cenó, vio la tele y se acostó. He had dinner, watched TV and went to bed. Ayer te llamé por teléfono. I rang you yesterday.

El pretérito -ar verbs example: hablar hablé hablaste habló hablamos hablasteis hablaron -er verbs, -ir verbs Examples: comer, vivir comí comiste comió comimos comisteis comieron viví viviste vivió vivimos vivisteis vivieron

There are two sets of regular endings to learn:1. -AR 2. -ER/ -IR As with other tenses you have to: 1. take the infinitive, take off the infinitive ending and add the endings for the tense. aceptar = to accept cantar = to sing llenar = to fill amar = to love charlar = to chat llorar = to cry arreglar = to fix dibujar = to draw mirar = to look at ayudar = to help entrar = to go in saltar = to jump bajar = to go down ganar = to win viajar = to travel bailar = to dance lavar = to wash

Practise saying or writing out these other verbs. beber = to drink Meter = to put correr = to run vender = to sell coser = to sew

Practise saying or writing out these other verbs. batir = to beat escribir = to write cubrir = to cover permitir = to allow recibir = to receive

The Preterite Stem changing verbs

1. Verbs which end in –GAR change to GUÉ 2. Verbs which end in –CAR change to QUÉ 3. Verbs which end in –ZAR change to CÉ Jugar: to play juguéI played jugaste you played jugó he/she/it played jugamos we played jugasteis you played jugaron they played explicar = to explain expliqué I explained explicaste you explained explicó he/she/it explained explicamos we explained explicasteis you explained explicaron they explained cruzar = to cross crucé I crossed cruzaste you crossed cruzó he/she/it crossed cruzamos we crossed cruzasteis you crossed cruzaron they crossed

All these verbs work in the same way. Can you write out three of them in full? apagar = to put out acercarse = to approach cazar = to hunt cargar = to load atacar = to attack empezar = to begin descargar = to unload buscar = to look for organizar = to organize entregar = to hand over secar = to dry rezar = to pray llegar = to arrive pescar = to fish utilizar = to use navegar = to sail chocar contra = to crash intopagar = to pay sacar = to take out regar= to water marcar = to score a goal, tocar= to touch dial a number

For verbs ending in -aer, -eer, -oír and -oer changes occur in the 3rd person forms (singular & plural): -ió changes to -yo; -ieron changes to -yeron. For verbs ending in -uir changes occur in the same way. Verb 1st person 3rd person 3rd person singular singular plural caer* = to fall caí cayó cayeron leer* = to read leí leyó leyeron oír* = to hear oí oyó oyeron roer* = to nibble roí royó royeron destruir = to destroy destruí destruyó destruyeron construir = to build construí construyó construyeron huir = to run away huí huyó huyeron

-ar and -er verbs that change their stem in the present tense E<IE do not change in the preterite. Presente Preterito cierro cerré cierras cerraste cierra cerró cerramos cerráis cerrasteis cierran cerraron

-ir verbs that change their stem in the present do change in the preterite. 1. o > u – the first change is o > u and it occurs in the third person forms (singular & plural). Dormir dormí durmió durmieron Morir morí murió murieron

2. e > i Changes also occur in the third person forms (singular & plural). Pedir pedí pidió pidieron Preferir preferí prefirió prefirieron En el restaurante Paco pidió tortilla de carne. Paco asked for a meat omelette in the restaurant. Mis amigos pidieron una paella enorme. My friends ordered an enormous paella.

What would the third person singular and plural be for each of the verbs below? despedirse de = to say goodbye to divertirse = to enjoy oneself hervir = to boil pedir = to ask for preferir = to prefer rendirse = to surrender repetir = to repeat seguir = to follow sentir = to feel, to be sorry servir = to serve vestirse = to get dressed se despidió se despidieron se divirtió se divirtieron hirvió hirvieron pidió pidieron prefirió prefirieron rindió rindieron repitió repitieron siguió siguieron sintió sintieron sirvió sirvieron se vistió se vistieron

PONER = to put There are no accents on these verbs. Just learn the first person and then put the endings on the new stem. The endings are almost the same as for regular -er and -ir verbs. Yo puse Tú pusiste Él puso Ella puso Éste puso Nosotros pusimos Vosotros pusisteis Ellos pusieron

Verbs which follow the same pattern as poner: Verb stem 1st person andar - to walk anduv anduve estar - to be estuv estuve obtener - to obtain obtuv obtuve tener - to have tuv tuve hacer - to do hic hice poder - to be able pud pude saber - to know sup supe suponer - to suppose supus supuse venir - to come vin vine querer - to love/want quis quise conducir - to drive conduj conduje traer - to bring traj traje producir - to produce produj produje decir* - to say dij dije

Note: hacer has a different stem in the 3rd person singular – hizo

Some very important verbs! hacer = to do / make hice I did / I made hiciste You did / you made hizo He/she/it did / made hicimos We did / we made hicisteis You did / you made hicieron They did / they made estar = to be estuve I was estuviste You were estuvo He/she/it was estuvimos We were estuvisteis You were estuvieron They were Note: Hacer has a different stem in the 3rd person singular – hizo

Notice ser and ir share the same forms ser = to be + ir = to go I was fui I went You were fuiste You went He/she/it was fue He/she/ it went We were fuimos We went You were fuisteis You went They were fueron They went Notice ser and ir share the same forms

Practise using the preterite of estar, ir, hacer and ser by writing out these sentences in Spanish. Yesterday I went to the cinema. It was a fantastic film. Before I went to the cinema I did my homework. He was a great soldier and a wonderful father. My grandfather went to Australia in They went to the hairdresser’s. The boys made their beds for the first time! It was a great day and the weather was very good.

Soluciones 1.Ayer fui al cine. 2.Fue una película fenomenal. 3.Antes de ir al cine hice los deberes. 4.Fue un gran soldado y un padre maravilloso. 5.Mi abuelo fue a Australia en mil novecientos sesenta (1960). 6.Fueron a la peluquería. 7.¡Por primera vez los chicos hicieron sus camas! 8.Fue un día fantástico e hizo muy buen tiempo.

¡Felicitaciones!