past tense el pretérito

PAST TENSE El Pretérito

El Pretérito:

actions happened in the past (“-ed”) Describes a completed past action\ Triggers: ayer, anoche, la semana

pasada, etc.

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 falleer – leer = to read; creer = to think / believeoir = to hearuir – 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, Usted construyó

Nosotros construimos

Vosotros construisteis

Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes construyeron

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)

yo repetí dormí

tú repetiste dormiste

él, ella, usted repitió durmió

Nosotros repetimos dormimos

vosotros repetisteis dormisteis

ellos, ellas, ustedes

repitieron durmieron

You will need to know the following E to I verbs:

Competir- to compete Requerir- to require, to need

Conseguir- to get, to obtain Seguir- to follow, to continue

Divertirse- to have fun, to enjoy oneself Sentirse- to feel

Pedir- to request, to ask for Servir- to serve

Preferir- to prefer Vestirse- to dress oneself

Repetir- to repeat

You will need to know the following O to U verbs:

Dormir- to sleep Morir- 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

fui fuimos

fuiste fuisteis

fue fueron

HACER

hice hicimos

hiciste hicisteis

hizo hicieron

VER

vi vimos

viste visteis

vio vieron

DAR

di dimos

diste disteis

dio dieron