Verbs with irregular stems in the Preterite tense
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Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Spanish III . . . . And So Much More! 00000 1 Table of Contents Verbs with irregular stems in the Preterite tense …………………………………………………… p. 3 – 5 -ir ‘shoe’ verbs in the Preterite tense ………………………………………………………………….. p. 5, 6 The Imperfect tense ……………………………………………………………………………………………. p. 6 – 8 Expressions using TENER ……………………………………………………………………………………. p. 8, 9 The Passive Voice ………………………………………………………………………………………………. p. 9 2 00000 Verbs with irregular stems in the Preterite tense HACER, QUERER , VENIR in the Preterite tense The verbs hacer querer and venir have irregular conjugations in the Preterite tense. They all have a stem change where they have an ‘i’ in the stem. HACER – to make / to do yo tú él / ella / Ud hice hiciste hizo nosotros vosotros ellos / Uds hicimos hicisteis hicieron **Notice that in the he / she / you(Ud) form of hacer the ‘c’ changes to ‘z’ for pronunciation purposes!. Also, notice that with a complete stem change, there are no accents in the ‘yo’ and the ‘él / ella / Ud forms ! VENIR – to come yo vine tú viniste él / ella / Ud vino nosotros vosotros ellos / Uds vinimos vinisteis vinieron QUERER – to try / to refuse yo quise tú quisiste él / ella / Ud quiso nosotros vosotros ellos / Uds quisimos quisisteis quisieron The verb QUERER has different meanings in the Preterite tense. In the Present tense it means ‘to want / to wish’. In the Preterite tense it means ‘to try’ in an affirmative sentence, and means ‘to refuse’ in a negative sentence. Quise ayudar. No quise ayudar. I tried to help. I refused to help. 3 TENER, ESTAR, ANDAR in the Preterite tense The verbs Tener, Estar and Andar have irregular conjugations in the Preterite tense. They all have a stem change where they have “uv” in the stem. TENER – to have tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvisteis tuvieron ESTAR – to be estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvisteis estuvieron ANADAR – to walk anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvisteis anduvieron PONER, PODER, SABER in the Preterite tense The verbs poner poder and saber have irregular conjugations in the Preterite tense. They all have a stem change where they have a ‘u’ in the stem. PONER – to put / to place yo puse tú pusiste él / ella / Ud puso nosotros vosotros ellos / Uds pusimos pusisteis pusieron PODER – to manage / could not yo pude tú pudiste él / ella / Ud pudo nosotros vosotros ellos / Uds 4 pudimos pudisteis pudieron The verb PODER has different meanings in the Preterite tense. In the Present tense PODER means ‘to be able’. In the Preterite, it means ‘managed’ in an affirmative statement, and ‘could not’ in a negative statement: Pude parar. No pude parar. (after trying) I managed to stop. (I tried but) I couldn’t stop. SABER – to find out / to learn about yo supe tú supiste él / ella / Ud supo nosotros vosotros ellos / Uds supimos supisteis supieron The verb SABER means ‘to know’ in the Present tense, but means ‘to find out / to learn about’ in the Preterite tense: Lo supe ayer. I found it out (I learned about it) yesterday. 00000 -ir shoe verbs in the Preterite tense -ir shoe verbs that change from e>ie or e>i in the Present tense have a change e>i in the third person (he/she/it/Ud/ellos/Uds) in the Preterite tense. Present (preferir) Preterite (preferir) Prefiero Prefieres Prefiere preferimos preferís prefieren preferí preferiste prefirió (pedir) Pido Pides Pide preferimos preferisteis prefirieron (pedir) pedimos pedis piden pedí pediste pidió 5 pedimos pedisteis pidieron -ir shoe verbs that have a change from o>ue in the Present tense have a change o>u in the third person in the Preterite tense. (dormir) Duermo Duermes Duerme (dormir) dormimos dormís duermen dormí dormiste durmió dormimos dormisteis durmieron 00000 The Imperfect tense All –ar verbs are regular in the Imperfect tense. To from the Imperfect of –ar verbs, drop the infinitive ending (-ar) and add: Hablar -aba -abas -aba -ábamos -abais -aban hablaba hablabas hablaba hablábamos hablabais hableaban To form the Imperfect of –er and –ir verbs (except VER IR and SER), drop the infinitive ending and add: -ía -ías -ía Comer comía comías comía -íamos -íais -ían comíamos comíais comían Vivir vivía vivías vivía 6 vivíamos vivíais vivían Imperfect of SER IR and VER There are only 3 verbs that are irregular in the Imperfect tense: SER Era Eras Era éramos érais eran iba ibas iba IR VER íbamos ibais iban veía veías veía veíamos veíais veían Uses of the Imperfect tense The Preterite tense is used to describe an event that took place at a specific time in the past: John visited Mexico last year. We ate a large meal last night. The Imperfect tense: Describes an action that was repeated in the past (always, used to, usually, etc) John visited Mexico (used to visit) every year. We ate a large meal every Sunday. Carlos always spent his vacation in Mexico, but last summer he spent it in Puerto Rico. On Saturdays I played tennis with Bob, but last week I played tennis with Tom. Generally I got up early, but yesterday I got up late. Describes an action that took place over a period of time in the past I was in Spain for two months last year. Ana spent three weeks in Argentina. Describes someone / something in the past; telling time in the past (sets the scene) Paula was happy. It was cold in the mountains. It was two o’clock when he arrived. 7 Verbs of Mental Processes Since verbs indication a mental process usually take place over a period of time, they usually are expressed in the Imperfect tense when talking about the past. The most common verbs of this type are: Creer Querer Preferir Saber Desear Pensar Poder Tener ganas de . . . to believe to want / wish to preferir to know (remember – saber in the Preterite means to find out / to learn about.) to want to think to be able (poder in the Preterite means to manage ) to feel like . . . Yo creía que Elena me dijo la verdad. Luisa tenía ganas de ir al cine. Nuestros padres sabían lo que hicimos. I believed that Elena told me the truth. Luisa felt like going to the movies. Our parents knew what we did. **Remember that saber has a different meaning in the Preterite tense! Nuestros padres supieron lo que hicimos. Our parents found out what we did. 00000 Expressions using TENER There are some expressions using to be in English that use the verb tener in Spanish. Instead of saying ‘I am, you are’, etc with these expressions, in Spanish you say, ‘I have, you have’ etc. I am cold. You are hungry. I have cold. You have hunger. These expressions include: To be cold To be warm 9hot) To be hungry To be thirsty To be afraid (of) To be in a hurry To be sleepy To feel like . . . tener frío tener calor tener hambre tener sed tener miedo (de) tener prisa tener sueño tener ganas de . . . 8 Remember to conjugate ‘tener’ before using these expressions! I am hungry. You are thirsty. He is warm We are afraid of . . . Do you feel like eating? They are sleepy. Tengo hambre. Tienes sed. tiene calor. tenemos miedo de . . . ¿Tienes ganas de comer? Tienen sueño. 00000 The Passive Voice In Spanish, when the subject of the sentence is indefinite or unknown, the Passive voice is used. In the Passive voice, the subject of the sentence both does and receives the action of the verb. The Passive voice in English is constructed like this: Books are sold in the bookstore. Books, as the subject is also receiving the action. It is both the Subject and the Direct Object. To form the Passive voice in Spanish, the reflexive pronoun se is followed by the third person (he / she / they) form of the Present tense. Se necesita un mechánico porque el carro no corre bien. A mechanic is needed because the car does not run well. Which mechanic? Unknown – therefore the Passive voice is used Se necesitan dos secretarias. They need two secretaries. Se venden pasteles en la panadería. Cakes are sold (they sell cakes) in the bakery. Se can also be used to express the general subject ‘one’, ‘they’, ‘people’, etc in English. Aquí se habla español. Spanish is spoken here. One speaks Spanish here. They speak Spanish here. People speak Spanish here. 9
