Preterite Tense
Review
Señora Hoffman-Fields
Spanish III
The Preterite Tense
• The preterite tense is used to talk about
actions that are completed in the past.
Preterite Regular Verb Endings
-
ar verbs
yo
-
nosotros
-é
-amos
tú
vosotros
-aste
-asteis
yo
él
ella -ó
Ud.
él
ella
Ud.
ellos
ellas -aron
Uds.
-er /-ir verbs
-í
tú
-iste
nosotros
-imos
vosotros
-isteis
ellos
-ió ellas -ieron
Uds.
¡Practicar!
1. I climbed
escalé
2. you informal singular climbed
3. you formal singular climbed
4. we ran
escalaste
Ud. escaló
corrimos
5. you informal plural ran
corristeis
6. you formal plural ran Uds. corrieron
Irregular Preterites
There are many irregular preterite verbs...
(sorry)
....but they still follow a pattern.
Pattern #1: regular endings, but
no accents
The verbs dar (to give) and ver (to see) have regular
endings, just no accents.
Pattern #2: -car, -gar, -zar verb
spelling change
Verbs that end with the letters –car, -gar, or –zar
have a spelling change in the yo form to preserve
the correct pronunciation.
examples: practicar, jugar, organizar
I practiced = practiqué
I played = jugué
I organized = organicé
Pattern #3: -ir verbs with stem
change in the present tense
-ir verbs that have an o to u or e to i stem change in
the present tense have a spelling change in the 3rd
person forms in the preterite.
examples: dormir, conseguir, preferir
he slept = él durmió
she followed = ella consigué
they preferred = ellos prefirieron
Pattern #4: the verbs ir and ser
The verbs ir (to go) and ser (to be) have the same
irregular conjugations in the preterite.
fui
fuimos
fuiste
fuisteis
fue
fueron
Pattern #5: Verbs with irregular
stems in the preterite
Some verbs change their stem in the preterite. This group
of verbs has their own set of endings.
hacer = hic-, hiz- haber = hub-
andar = anduv- decir = dij-
querer = quisvenir = vin-
estar = estuv-
traer = traj-
tener = tuv-
conducir = conduj-
poder = pudponer = pussaber = sup-
*these verbs use
–eron instead of –ieron
Pattern #5: Verbs with irregular
stems in the preterite (continued)
These verbs all use the same set of endings:
-e
-imos
-iste
-isteis
-o
-ieron
Pattern #6: verbs that end with
double vowels
Verbs like leer and caer have spelling changes in 3rd
person forms, and have an accent to separate the vowels.
leí
leímos
caí
caímos
leíste
leísteis
caíste
caísteis
leyó
leyeron
cayó
cayeron
The “to know” verbs
The “to know” verbs have different meanings when
used in the preterite.
verb
present
preterite
conocer
to know someone
to meet
saber
to know facts
to find out