EL PRETÉRITO

Spanish

Completed past tense

Information retrieved from studyspanish.com

Spanish has two past tenses

Preterite

Imperfect

What is the preterite?The preterite tense is used as the completed past

tense.

We watched TV last night.The bell rang.Last year I went to Madrid.

The preterite tells us specifically when an action took place.

Formation of the preterite tense

3 sets of endings:

-ar verbs

-er, -ir verbs

irregular verbs

What does the preterite mean?

The preterite verb can be translated 2 ways:

Hablé =

I spoke

I did speak

-ar verbs forms

To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following:

é amos

aste asteis

ó aron

ejemplo:

hablar

hablé hablamos

hablaste hablasteis

habló hablaron

To conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-er or -ir) and add one of the following:

í imos

iste isteis

ió ieron

ejemplos

comer vivir

comí viví

comiste viviste

comió vivió

comimos vivimos

comisteis vivisteis

comieron vivieron

The preterite is used for actions that can be viewed as single events.

･ Ella caminó por el parque. ･ She walked through the park.

･ Ellos llegaron a las ocho. ･ They arrived at eight o'clock.

The preterite is used for actions that were repeated a specific number of times, or occurred during a specific period of time.

･ Ayer escribí tres cartas. ･ Yesterday I wrote three letters. ･

･ Vivimos allí por cuatro años. ･We lived there for four years.

The preterite is used for actions that were part of a chain of events.

･ Ella se levantó, se vistió, y salió de la casa. ･ She got up, dressed, and left the house.

The preterite is used to state the beginning or the end of an action.

･ Empezó a nevar a las ocho de la mañana. ･It began to snow at eight in the morning.

The previous examples all fall within our general rule for using the preterite:

The preterite is used for past actions that are seen as completed.

Los verbos irregulares

As in the present tense, there are irregulars in the preterite. Some have simple stem modifications, and some are just strange!

A number of verbs that are irregular in the preterite follow a particular pattern. While their stems change, they all take the following endings:

-e -imos-iste -isteis-o -ieron

These verbs have 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

Here are two examples of how this pattern is applied:

･ estar (estuv-)

estuve

estuviste

estuvo

estuvimos

estuvisteis

estuvieron

･ saber (sup-) supe

supiste

supo

supimos

supisteis

supieron

Note: The one exception is the third person singular of hacer. The c changes to z to form "hizo.”

What happens with stem-changing verbs from the present tense?

• -ar and -er verbs that change their stem in the present tense do not change in the preterite. They are conjugated just like other regular preterite verbs.

Ejemplo:

Present Preteriteentender entenderentiendo entendí entiendes entendisteentiende entendióentendemos entendimosentendéis entendisteisentienden entendieron

-ar verbs

Present Preteritecerrar cerrarcierro cerrécierras cerrastecierra cerrócerramos cerramoscerráis cerrasteiscierran cerraron

-ir verbs that change their stem in the present tense do change in the preterite, but in a different way. They change e:i and o:u in the third person, singular and plural.

Present Preterite

preferir preferir

prefiero preferí

prefieres preferiste

prefiere prefirió

preferimos preferimos

preferéis preferisteis

prefieren prefirieron

Present Preterite

dormir dormir

duermo dormí

duermes dormiste

duerme durmió

dormimos dormimos

dormís dormisteis

duermen durmieron

In order to preserve the sound of the infinitive, a number of verbs change orthographically (spelling) in the preterite tense.

The following changes occur in the "yo" form only:

･ 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

Here are three examples:

･ yo jugué (jugar)

･ yo busqué (buscar)

･ yo almorcé (almorzar)

Common verbs with these spelling changes:

jugar buscar almorzar

llegar praticar cazar

pagar sacar empezar

rogar tocar cruzar

organizar

For verbs that end in -aer, -eer, -oír, and -oer, the él/ella/usted forms use the ending "yó" (rather than ió) and the third person plural uses the ending "yeron" (rather than ieron).

The remaining forms gain a written accent over the letter "i."

･ creer

creí

creíste

creyó

creímos

creísteis

creyeron

Other verbs like creer include:caerleeroírposeerproveerroer

Exceptions to this rule include: ･ traer ･atraer ･ distraer

Verbs that end in -uir change in the same way, but the written accent over the letter "i" only occurs in the yo form.

huirhuíhuistehuyóhuimoshuisteishuyeron

Other verbs like huir include:

･ construir

･ contribuir

･ destruir

･ fluir

･ incluir

･ influir

Verbs that end in -ucir are irregular and conjugated as follows:

producir

produje

produjiste

produjo

produjimos

produjisteis

produjeron

Other verbs in this category include:

･ aducir

･ conducir

･ coproducir

･ deducir

･ inducir

･ introducir

･ reducir

･ traducir

The following verbs are irregular in the preterite and must be

memorized:

decir

dije

dijiste

dijo

dijimos

dijisteis

dijeron

traer

traje

trajiste

trajo

trajimos

trajisteis

trajeron

ver

vi

viste

vio

vimos

visteis

vieron

These four verbs are also irregular; you must memorize them:

ser irfui fuifuiste fuistefue fuefuimos fuimosfuisteis fuisteisfueron fueron

dar hacer

di hice

diste hiciste

dio hizo

dimos hicimos

disteis hicisteis

dieron hicieron

To review some of the rules for using the preterite:

The preterite is used for actions that can be viewed as single events.

The preterite is used for actions that were repeated a specific number of times.

The preterite is used for actions that occurred during a specific period of time.

The preterite is used for actions that were part of a chain of events.

The preterite is used to state the beginning or the end of an action.