Mrs. O. Pacheco Spanish I-IV El Pretérito Mrs. O. Pacheco Spanish I-IV

The Preterite Tense 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. Note: the nosotros form is the same both in present and preterite tenses. But we can usually tell if someone is referring to the past or present from the context. For example, 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 and caminamos, we know that she is talking about an event that happened in the past because she used the word viajé in the previous sentence.

El Pretérito: is a past tense (“-ed”) talks about what happened is a completed action I went to the store. I bought a shirt. I paid in cash.

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 -aste -ó -amos -asteis -aron

Pretérito endings for –er / -ir verbs are: -í -iste -ió -imos -isteis -ieron

REMEMBER: accents on the “yo” form and the “él / ella / Ud.” form -ar / -ir “nosotros” form is the same in present and pretérito

Por ejemplo: (-ar verbs) tomar tomé tomaste tomó tomamos tomasteis tomaron

Por ejemplo: (-ar verbs) hablar hablé hablaste habló hablamos hablasteis hablaron

Por ejemplo: (-ar verbs) trabajar trabajé trabajaste trabajó trabajamos trabajasteis trabajaron

Por ejemplo: (-er / -ir verbs) comer comí comiste comió comimos comisteis comieron

Por ejemplo: (-er / -ir verbs) volver volví volviste volvió volvimos volvisteis volvieron

Por ejemplo: (-er / -ir verbs) abrir abrí abriste abrió abrimos abristeis abrieron

Por ejemplo: (-er / -ir verbs) escribir escribí escribiste escribió escribimos escribisteis escribieron

Unos Irregulares: Verbs ending in -car, -gar, and -zar have a spelling change in the “yo” form of the pretérito. buscar tocar practicar pagar jugar llegar almorzar empezar comenzar

The “yo” form of the pretérito changes to conserve the sound of the infinitive: -car -gar -zar “-qué” “-gué” “-cé” “tocé” “jugé” “rezé”

Por ejemplo: (-car verbs) buscar busqué buscaste buscó buscamos buscasteis buscaron

Por ejemplo: (-car verbs) practicar practiqué practicaste practicó practicamos practicasteis practicaron

Por ejemplo: (-gar verbs) pagar pagué pagaste pagó pagamos pagasteis pagaron

Por ejemplo: (-gar verbs) jugar jugué jugaste jugó jugamos jugasteis jugaron

Por ejemplo: (-zar verbs) almorzar almorcé almorzaste almorzó almorzamos almorzasteis almorzaron

Por ejemplo: (-zar verbs) empezar empecé empezaste empezó empezamos empezasteis empezaron

Vocabulario El tiempo libre Acampar en las montañas (to camp in the mountains) Bajar un río en canoa (to go down a river by canoe) Cantar en el coro (to sing in the chorus) Disfrutar con los amigos (to enjoy time with friends) Estudiar las artes marciales (to study martial arts) Jugar (u-ue) al aljedrez (to play chess) Tomar un curso de natación (to take a swimming class) ¿Qué te gusta hacer?

¡Vamos a Practicar! Mis abuelos _________ tarde del viaje. (llegar) Yo __________ arroz en mi casa. (comer) Ella ______ conmigo antes de partir. (hablar) Tú _______ llamarme antes de ir. (deber) Laura ________ mucha suerte. (tener) Nosotros _______ lo mejor de nosotros. (dar)

El verano pasado… Habla/escribir: Explica lo que pasó el verano pasado. (hint: tell what they did last summer.) Example: mi hermana/caminar con el perro = Mi hermana (no) caminó con el perro. Yo/alquilar un video. Mi primo/bajar un río en canoa. Los estudiantes/cantar en el coro. Yo/comprar un juejo de ajedrez. Mis padres/disfrutar con los amigos. Yo/tomar un curso de natación. Mi mejor amigo(a)/estudiar las artes marciales Tú/acampar en las montañas.

Irregular Preterite Forms

Irregular Preterite forms There are a fair number of verbs with irregular conjugation forms in the Preterite. These Irregular forms in the Preterite are said to have "radical" changes, that is, vowel and consonant changes in the root (or stem of the verb.) Furthermore, these changes occur in all of the conjugations (including the nosotros form.) These Irregular preterite changes are NOT for orthographic (spelling) reasons (like the verbs ending in -Car, -Gar and -Zar) nor are the changes in vowels similar to regular stem-changing verbs which affect certain -Ir conjugations in the Preterite. Verbs which have an Irregular Preterite form have their own conjugation - different from the established -Ar, -Er/-Ir Preterite conjugation pattern.

Irregular changes All Verbs with grossly irregular changes in the Preterite follow this conjugation: -Ar, -Er, -Ir Irregular Verbs Yo-e Tú-iste Él, ella, usted-o Nosotros-imos Ellos, ellas, ustedes -ieron* * * Verbs with a "J" at the end of the stem drop the "i" and just use: -eron Notice that none of these conjugation endings have accent marks!

Some Common Irregular verbs in the Preterite: Andar-Anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvieron Conducir*-Conduje condujiste condujo condujimos condujeron Decir*-Dije dijiste dijo dijimos dijeron Estar-Estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvieron Hacer-Hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicieron Poner-Puse pusiste puso pusimos pusieron Poder-Pude pudiste pudo pudimos pudieron Querer-Quise quisiste quiso quisimos quisieron Saber-Supe supiste supo supimos supieron Tener-Tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvieron Traer*-Traje trajiste trajo trajimos trajeron Venir-vine viniste vino vinimos vinieron

Orthographic Changes Verbs that end in -gar change g to gu Verbs that end in -car change c to qu Verbs that end in -zar change z to c Verbs that end in -aer, -eer, -oír, -oer, and uir change ió to yó and ieron to yeron Verbs that end in -ucir are irregular and conjugated as follows: Producir, produje, produjiste, produjo, produjimos, produjisteis, produjeron

Corresponding stem changes: Infinitive Stem Change andar anduv- estar estuv- tener tuv- caber cup- haber hub- poder pud- poner pus- saber sup- hacer hic- querer quis- venir vin-

Note Hacer in the third person singular changes out the "c" for a "z" to reflect the correct pronunciation. Irregulars which use a "J" in the Preterite only add "-eron" (NOT "-ieron") to the third-person plural

Other verbs which are irregular in the Preterite Dar-di diste dio dimos dieron Dar is often humorously referred to as the "cross-dressing" verb, because in the Preterite Dar takes on the -Er/-Ir preterite verb endings rather than -Ar verb endings. Ver-vi viste vio vimos vieron Verbs with only 2 or 3 letters, such as Dar, Ser, Ir and Ver, also do not wear accent marks in the Preterite. Remember that Spanish only uses accent marks when required for pronunciation or differentiation.

Sharing same forms Ir & Ser-fui fuiste fue fuimos fueron Notice that Ir and Ser share the same forms in the Preterite. This is not as confusing as it may appear. Since Ser refers to existence and identification, it is nearly impossible to use this in the Preterite which handles only completed actions. This preterite conjugation form will nearly always be Ir (an action verb) rather than Ser (a descriptive verb) which is usually conjugated in the Imperfect Past tense. Also the context of a sentence or a conversation will let you know which is being used. For example: Fui al supermercado clearly means "I went to the supermarket," not *"I was to the supermarket."

Note While there are more irregulars in the Preterite past tense than in any other tense, the good news is that Spanish makes up for it with a 99.99% regular Imperfect past tense!