El tiempo pasado The past tense

Acabar de + [infinitive] is used to say that something has just occurred. It is used for the very recent past. Note that acabar is in the present tense in this construction. Acabo de comprar una falda. I just bought a skirt. Acabas de ir de compras. You just went shopping.

Acabar + de+ infinitive: Tell what the subjects “just did” in the recent past: Acabo de comer. Acabas de estudiar. Acaba de escribir. Acaba de trabajar. Acaba de llegar. Acabamos de volver. Acabáis de salir. Acaban de pagar. Acaban de ir. Acaban de llamar. Yo (comer) Tú (estudiar) Ud. (escribir) Él (trabajar) Ella (llegar) Nosotros (volver) Vosotros (salir) Uds. (pagar) Ellos (ir) Ellas (llamar)

ANTE TODO In order to talk about events in the past that did not just occur, Spanish uses two simple tenses: the preterite and the imperfect.

to describe emotional or mental states in the past The imperfect tense is used to express circumstances, descriptions, and uncountable actions in the past: to describe in the past The car was red. to describe emotional or mental states in the past I was (feeling) angry. to state on-going (progressive) actions in the past They were studying and I was playing. to state uncountable, repeated actions in the past I used to go to the beach every summer. We frequently visited our grandparents.

In contrast, the preterite tense is used to express actions or reactions completed in the past that can be counted, including one time implied and the summary of a series of completed actions.

The preterite answers the questions: What happened or ocurred? It rained. (Completed, countable action.) It was fun. (Summary statement) What did the subject do? I left the house. (1x implied) She saw the movie three times. (Action countable times) How did the subject react? We got angry. (reaction)

How does the preterite tense translate into English? In questions: ¿Qué compraste tú? = What did you buy? ¿Compraste tú una camisa? = Did you buy a shirt? In statements: Yo compré una camisa. = I bought a shirt. I did buy a shirt.

Ayer llegué a Santiago de Cuba. Anoche oí un ruido extraño. Words commonly used with the past tense and often with preterite (The ones with * absolutely indicate preterite.) anoche last night anteayer the day before yesterday ayer yesterday de repente suddenly * desde… from…* hasta… until…* pasado/a (adj.) last; past el año pasado last year la semana pasada last week una vez once; one time * dos veces twice; two times * ya already Ayer llegué a Santiago de Cuba. Anoche oí un ruido extraño. Yesterday I arrived in Santiago de Cuba. Last night I heard a strange noise.

Preterite of regular –ar, –er, and –ir verbs -ar verbs -er verbs -ir verbs comprar vender escribir SINGULAR FORMS yo compré vendí escribí tú compraste vendiste escribiste Ud. / él / ella compró vendió escribió PLURAL FORMS nosotros/as compramos vendimos escribimos vosotros/as comprasteis vendisteis escribisteis Uds. / ellos / ellas compraron vendieron escribieron

¡ATENCIÓN! The yo and Ud. / él / ella forms of all three conjugations have written accents on the last syllable to show that it is stressed. As the preceding chart shows, the endings for regular –er and –ir verbs are identical in the preterite.

The –ar and –er verbs that have a stem change in the present tense are regular in the preterite. They do not have a stem change. (no boot changes for –ar/-er preterite) PRESENT PRETERITE cerrar (e:ie) La tienda cierra a las seis. La tienda cerró a las seis. volver (o:ue) Carlitos vuelve tarde. Carlitos volvió tarde. jugar (u:ue) Él juega al fútbol. Él jugó al fútbol.

Note that the nosotros/as forms of regular –ar and –ir verbs in the preterite are identical to the present tense forms. Context will help you determine which tense is being used. En invierno compramos la ropa en la tienda de la universidad. In the winter, we buy clothing at the university store. Anoche compramos unos zapatos de tenis y unas sandalias. Last night we bought a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of sandals.

Verbs that end in –car, –gar, and –zar have a spelling change in the first person singular (yo form only) in the preterite. buscar  busc-  qu-  yo busqué llegar  lleg-  gu-  yo llegué empezar  empez-  c-  yo empecé Except for the yo form, all other forms of –car, –gar, and –zar verbs are regular in the preterite.

Ver is regular in the preterite, but none of its forms has an accent. Three other verbs — creer, leer, and oír — have spelling changes in the preterite. The i of the verb endings of creer, leer, and oír carries an accent in the yo, tú, nosotros/as, and vosotros/as forms, and changes to y in the Ud. / él / ella and Uds. / ellos / ellas forms. creer  cre-  creí, creíste, creyó, creímos, creísteis, creyeron leer  le-  leí, leíste, leyó, leímos, leísteis, leyeron oír  o-  oí, oíste, oyó, oímos, oísteis, oyeron Ver is regular in the preterite, but none of its forms has an accent. ver  vi, viste, vio, vimos, visteis, vieron

¡INTÉNTALO! Provide the appropriate preterite forms of the verbs. celebrar Elena _____. celebró 2. Yo _____. celebré 3. Los chicos _____. celebraron 4. Emilio y yo _____. celebramos 5. Tú _____. celebraste

comer Los niños _____. comieron 2. Tú _____. comiste 3. Usted _____. comió 4. Nosotros _____. comimos Yo _____. comí

salir Tú y yo _____. salimos 2. Ella _____. salió 3. Pablo y Elena _____. salieron 4. Nosotros _____. 5. Yo _____. salí

comenzar 1. Ustedes _____. comenzaron 2. Nosotros _____. comenzamos 3. Yo _____. comencé 4. Marcos _____. comenzó 5. Tú _____. comenzaste