Spelling changes in the preterite

i → y

-car, -gar, -zar verbs

i → y

Verbs that have a vowel at the end of the stem have a spelling change in the preterite

Leer: leí, leíste, leyó (not leió), leímos, leísteis, leyeron (not leieron)

Construir: construí, construiste, construyó (not construió), construimos, construisteis, construyeron (not construieron)

Why?! --- i is a weak vowel and when it is next to an e, a, or u it blends in and sounds more like a y

Act. 4, p. 226

Escribir con compañero

¿Cómo se dice…?

…the él/ella form of “buscar” in the preterite?

…the yo form of “buscar” in the preterite?

How do you pronounce this word?

buscéIt’s a “soft” c. To make a “hard” c you must add qu.

busqué

¿Cómo se dice…?

…the él/ella form of “pagar” in the preterite?

…the yo form of “pagar” in the preterite?

How do you pronounce this word?

pagéIt’s a “soft” g. To make a “hard” g you must add a u.

pagué

¿Cómo se dice…?

…the él/ella form of “empezar” in the preterite?

…the yo form of “empezar” in the preterite?

How do you pronounce this word?

empezé“ze” is not allowed in Spanish**, so it changes to…

empecé**It has to do with the development from Latin; “z” is borrowed from Greek.

This change happens only in the yo form.

-car → -qué

-gar → -gué

-zar → -cé

Think about English

Some words change spelling when in the past tense You panic. (present) You panicked. (past)

I commit. I committed.

Look at page 227 for more information

¡A trabajar!

Página 228, actividad 5