PAST TENSE  El Pretérito

El Pretérito:  is a past tense (“-ed”)  talks about what happened  Describes a completed past action

1. REGULAR VERBS

Verbs ending in - AR  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

-CAR  If a verb ends in –CAR, we still use the regular –AR ending, but the stem will change in the YO form Drop the –car and add -qué  Practicar  Yo practiqué

- GAR  Drop the –gar and add gué  JUGAR  Yo jugué - ZAR Drop the –zar and add -cé  ALMORZAR  Yo almorcé

For verbs that end in a vowel after you drop the temination ER, IR.: aer – caer – to fall eer – leer = to read; creer = to think / believe oir = to hear uir – to flee - huir The third person singular form (él, ella, usted) uses the ending yó (rather than ió).

The third person plural (ellos, ellas, ustedes) uses the ending yeron (rather than ieron). The remaining forms gain a written accent over the letter “i”.

For example: leer- to read Yo leí Tú leíste Él, Ella, Ud.leyó Nosotros leímos Vosotros leísteis Ellos, Ellas, Uds.leyeron

Verbs that end in -uir change in the same way, but the written accent over the letter "i" only occurs in the yo form. For example: construir- to construct Yo construí Tú construiste Él, Ella, Ustedconstruyó Nosotros construimos Vosotrosconstruisteis Ellos, Ellas, Ustedesconstruyeron

You will need to know the following Spelling-Change Verbs: caer (to fall) creer (to think/believe) leer (to read) oír (to hear) construir(to construct) incluir(to include) influir(to influence)

The only verbs that have a stem change in the preterite tense are those which meet the following three requirements: 1. The infinitive of the verb ends in –ir. 2. The verb was a stem-changing verb in the present tense. 3. It does NOT fall into one of the other categories of verbs in preterite: regular, car/gar/zar, completely irregular, * -ar and –er verbs that changed stems in the present tense do NOT change stems in the preterite- they are conjugated like all other regular preterite verbs

In preterite, there are two types of stem changes : 1. If the stem contains an e, it changes to an i ( E to I ) sentir > sintió 2. If the stem contains an o, it changes to a u ( O to U ) dormir > durmió

In preterite, the stem only changes in two forms: 1. Third Person Singular ( él, ella, usted) 2. Third Person Plural (ellos, ellas, ustedes)

Some examples: E to I REPETIR - (to repeat) O to U DORMIR- (to sleep) yorepetídormí túrepetistedormiste él, ella, ustedrepitiódurmió Nosotrosrepetimosdormimos vosotrosrepetisteisdormisteis ellos, ellas, ustedes repitierondurmieron

You will need to know the following E to I verbs: Competir- to competeRequerir- to require, to need Conseguir- to get, to obtainSeguir- to follow, to continue Divertirse- to have fun, to enjoy oneselfSentirse- to feel Pedir- to request, to ask forServir- to serve Preferir- to preferVestirse- to dress oneself Repetir- to repeat You will need to know the following O to U verbs: Dormir- to sleepMorir- to die

Verbs whose stem change in: V stems  Andar  stem: anduv-  Estar  stem: estuv-  Tener  stem: tuv- U stems  Poder  stem: pud-  Saber  stem: sup-  Poner  stem: pus -

J stems:  Decir  stem: Dij –  Traer  stem: traj-  Atraer  stem: atraj –  Traducir  stem: traduj-  Producir  stem: produj-  Conducir  stem: conduj- I stems:  Querer  stem: Quis-  Venir  stem: Vin-

For the “VUI” you need to add the following endings after changing the stem - e - imos - iste - isteis - o - ieron

If the stem ends in “J” you need to add the following endings after changing the stem - e - imos - iste - isteis - o - eron

SER / IR fuifuimos fuistefuisteis fuefueron

HACER hicehicimos hicistehicisteis hizohicieron

VER vivimos vistevisteis viovieron

DAR didimos distedisteis diodieron