El Pretérito
Mrs. O. Pacheco
Spanish I-IV
1
The Preterite Tense


The preterite tense tells what
happened or what you did. It is
used when the action described
has already been completed.
Regular preterite verbs, like
present tense verbs, are formed
by adding tense endings to the
stem.
Note: the nosotros form is the
same both in present and
preterite tenses. But we can
usually tell if someone is
referring to the past or present
from the context.

For example, Abuela says:
 Yo viajé a Costa Rica
el verano pasado.
Acampamos en un
parque y caminamos
por San José.

I traveled to Costa Rica
last summer. We
camped in a park and
walked through San
José.
• Even though Abuela uses the words acampamos
and caminamos, we know that she is talking
about an event that happened in the past because
she used the word viajé in the previous sentence.
El Pretérito:
• is a past tense (“-ed”)
• talks about what happened
• is a completed action
I went to the store.
I bought a shirt.
I paid in cash.
3
The stem for regular verbs in the
pretérito is the infinitive stem.
Tomar
Hablar
Comer
Beber
Abrir
Salir
tomhablcombebabrsal4
Pretérito endings for -ar verbs
are:
-é
-aste
-ó
-amos
-asteis
-aron
5
Pretérito endings for –er / -ir verbs
are:
-í
-iste
-ió
-imos
-isteis
-ieron
6
REMEMBER:
• accents on the “yo” form
and the “él / ella / Ud.”
form
•-ar / -ir “nosotros” form is
the same in present and
pretérito
7
Por ejemplo:
(-ar verbs)
tomé
tomaste
tomó
tomamos
tomasteis
tomaron
tomar
8
Por ejemplo:
(-ar verbs)
hablé
hablaste
habló
hablamos
hablasteis
hablaron
hablar
9
Por ejemplo:
(-ar verbs)
trabajé
trabajaste
trabajó
trabajamos
trabajasteis
trabajaron
trabajar
10
Por ejemplo:
(-er / -ir verbs)
comí
comiste
comió
comimos
comisteis
comieron
comer
11
Por ejemplo:
(-er / -ir verbs)
volví
volviste
volvió
volvimos
volvisteis
volvieron
volver
12
Por ejemplo:
(-er / -ir verbs)
abrí
abriste
abrió
abrimos
abristeis
abrieron
abrir
13
Por ejemplo:
(-er / -ir verbs)
escribí
escribiste
escribió
escribimos
escribisteis
escribieron
escribir
14
Unos Irregulares:
Verbs ending in -car, -gar, and
-zar have a spelling change in the
“yo” form of the pretérito.
buscar tocar
practicar
pagar
jugar
llegar
almorzar empezar comenzar
15
The “yo” form of the pretérito
changes to conserve the sound
of the infinitive:
-car
-gar
-zar
“-qué”
“-gué”
“-cé”
“tocé”
“jugé”
“rezé”
16
Por ejemplo:
(-car verbs)
busqué
buscaste
buscó
buscamos
buscasteis
buscaron
buscar
17
Por ejemplo:
(-car verbs)
practiqué
practicaste
practicó
practicamos
practicasteis
practicaron
practicar
18
Por ejemplo:
(-gar verbs)
pagué
pagaste
pagó
pagamos
pagasteis
pagaron
pagar
19
Por ejemplo:
(-gar verbs)
jugué
jugaste
jugó
jugamos
jugasteis
jugaron
jugar
20
Por ejemplo:
(-zar verbs)
almorcé
almorzaste
almorzó
almorzamos
almorzasteis
almorzaron
almorzar
21
Por ejemplo:
(-zar verbs)
empecé
empezaste
empezó
empezamos
empezasteis
empezaron
empezar
22
Vocabulario
El tiempo libre
 Acampar en las montañas (to camp in the
mountains)
 Bajar un río en canoa (to go down a river by
canoe)
 Cantar en el coro (to sing in the chorus)
 Disfrutar con los amigos (to enjoy time with
friends)
 Estudiar las artes marciales (to study martial arts)
 Jugar (u-ue) al aljedrez (to play chess)
 Tomar un curso de natación (to take a swimming
class)
 ¿Qué te gusta hacer?
¡Vamos a Practicar!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Mis abuelos _________ tarde del viaje.
(llegar)
Yo __________ arroz en mi casa. (comer)
Ella ______ conmigo antes de partir.
(hablar)
Tú _______ llamarme antes de ir. (deber)
Laura ________ mucha suerte. (tener)
Nosotros _______ lo mejor de nosotros.
(dar)
El verano pasado…

Habla/escribir:
Explica lo que pasó el
verano pasado. (hint:
tell what they did
last summer.)
 Example: mi
hermana/caminar
con el perro =

Mi hermana (no)
caminó con el
perro.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Yo/alquilar un video.
Mi primo/bajar un río en
canoa.
Los estudiantes/cantar
en el coro.
Yo/comprar un juejo de
ajedrez.
Mis padres/disfrutar con
los amigos.
Yo/tomar un curso de
natación.
Mi mejor
amigo(a)/estudiar las
artes marciales
Tú/acampar en las
montañas.
Irregular Preterite Forms
Irregular Preterite forms
There are a fair number of verbs with irregular
conjugation forms in the Preterite. These
Irregular forms in the Preterite are said to have
"radical" changes, that is, vowel and consonant
changes in the root (or stem of the verb.)
Furthermore, these changes occur in all of the
conjugations (including the nosotros form.) These
Irregular preterite changes are NOT for
orthographic (spelling) reasons (like the verbs
ending in -Car, -Gar and -Zar) nor are the changes
in vowels similar to regular stem-changing verbs
which affect certain -Ir conjugations in the
Preterite. Verbs which have an Irregular Preterite
form have their own conjugation - different from
the established -Ar, -Er/-Ir Preterite conjugation
pattern.
Irregular changes

All Verbs with grossly irregular changes
in the Preterite follow this conjugation:

-Ar, -Er, -Ir Irregular Verbs





Yo-e
Tú-iste
Él, ella, usted-o
Nosotros-imos
Ellos, ellas, ustedes -ieron*
* * Verbs with a "J" at the end of the stem
drop the "i" and just use: -eron
 Notice that none of these conjugation
endings have accent marks!

Some Common Irregular verbs
in the Preterite:
Andar-Anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvieron
 Conducir*-Conduje condujiste condujo condujimos
condujeron
 Decir*-Dije dijiste dijo dijimos dijeron
 Estar-Estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvieron
 Hacer-Hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicieron
 Poner-Puse pusiste puso pusimos pusieron
 Poder-Pude pudiste pudo pudimos pudieron
 Querer-Quise quisiste quiso quisimos quisieron
 Saber-Supe supiste supo supimos supieron
 Tener-Tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvieron
 Traer*-Traje trajiste trajo trajimos trajeron
 Venir-vine viniste vino vinimos vinieron

Orthographic Changes
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
 Verbs that end in -aer, -eer, -oír, -oer, and
uir change ió to yó and ieron to yeron
 Verbs that end in -ucir are irregular and
conjugated as follows:


Producir, produje, produjiste, produjo,
produjimos, produjisteis, produjeron
30
Corresponding 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-
31
Note
 Hacer
in the third person singular
changes out the "c" for a "z" to
reflect the correct pronunciation.
 Irregulars which use a "J" in the
Preterite only add "-eron" (NOT "ieron") to the third-person plural
Other verbs which are
irregular in the Preterite

Dar-di diste dio dimos dieron


Dar is often humorously referred to as the
"cross-dressing" verb, because in the Preterite
Dar takes on the -Er/-Ir preterite verb
endings rather than -Ar verb endings.
Ver-vi viste vio vimos vieron


Verbs with only 2 or 3 letters, such as Dar,
Ser, Ir and Ver, also do not wear accent marks
in the Preterite.
Remember that Spanish only uses accent marks
when required for pronunciation or
differentiation.
Sharing same forms

Ir & Ser-fui fuiste fue fuimos fueron



Notice that Ir and Ser share the same forms in
the Preterite. This is not as confusing as it may
appear. Since Ser refers to existence and
identification, it is nearly impossible to use this
in the Preterite which handles only completed
actions. This preterite conjugation form will
nearly always be Ir (an action verb) rather than
Ser (a descriptive verb) which is usually
conjugated in the Imperfect Past tense.
Also the context of a sentence or a
conversation will let you know which is being
used. For example:
Fui al supermercado clearly means "I went to
the supermarket," not *"I was to the
supermarket."
Note
 While
there are more irregulars in
the Preterite past tense than in any
other tense, the good news is that
Spanish makes up for it with a
99.99% regular Imperfect past tense!