Regular Verb
Conjugation
IN PRETERITE TENSE
One of the most
important grammar
presentations you will
have this school year.
Conjugation… what is it?
The act of assigning a SUBJECT
to an infinitive.
Infinitives… remember those?
They show ACTION ONLY and end in
-AR
-ER
-IR
The verbs we are conjugating are
REGULAR verbs.
These verbs are considered “regular”
because they follow a
PATTERN.
However, the “pattern” is new. We are
switching tenses, from speaking about
the present to speaking about THE
PAST.
Preterite tense is our the third verb tense.
Let’s explore the others….
Para ejercicio, yo
camino todos los
días.
For exercise, I walk
every day.
PRESENT TENSE
Estoy caminando
al trabajo ahora.
I am walking to
work now.
PRESENT
PROGRESSIVE
TENSE
ESTAR = -ANDO / -IENDO
Yo caminé a mi perro esta mañana y ahora
tengo sueño.
I walked my dog this morning and now I
am sleepy.
PRETERITE
TENSE
indicating the past
Pause for Practice
Saquen sus “libritos de notas”
y ábranlos a la página 1.
Van a tomar notas de página
1 a página 4 este capítulo.
Yo
Tú (familiar)
Nosotros
Nosotras
Vosotros
Vosotras
(used in Spain)
Usted
(polite)
Él
Ella
Ustedes
Ellos
Ellas
Regular –AR Preterite Endings
-É
-AMOS
-ASTE
-ASTEIS
-Ó
-ARON
Let’s look at an
example…
NADAR – TO SWIM
YO NADAR
É
I swam.
TÚ NADAR
ASTE
You swam.
ÉL
Ó
ELLA NADAR
Ud.
He/She swam. / You swam.
NOSOTROS
NADAR
AMOS
NOSOTRAS
We swam.
VOSOTROS
NADAR
ASTEIS
VOSOTRAS
You (all) swam.
Uds.
ARON
ELLOS NADAR
ELLAS
They swam. / You (all) swam
Hablar – to speak
Hablé
Hablamos
Hablaste Hablasteis
Habló
Hablaron
Ducharse – to shower
Me duché
Nos duchamos
Te duchaste
Os duchasteis
Se duchó
Se ducharon
Note that even though the verb has been conjugated in a
new tense, the use of the reflexive pronoun is still the same.
Pause for Practice
Regular –ER/-IR Preterite Endings
-Í
-IMOS
-ISTE
-ISTEIS
-IÓ
-IERON
Let’s look at an
example…
COMER – TO EAT
YO COMER
Í
I ate.
TÚ COMER
ISTE
You ate.
ÉL
IÓ
ELLA COMER
Ud.
He/She ate. / You ate.
NOSOTROS
COMER
IMOS
NOSOTRAS
We ate.
VOSOTROS
COMER
ISTEIS
VOSOTRAS
You (all) ate.
Uds.
IERON
ELLOS COMER
ELLAS
They ate. / You (all) ate.
Correr – to run
Corrí
Corrimos
Corriste
Corristeis
Corrió
Corrieron
Compartir – to share
Compartí
Compartimos
Compartiste Compartisteis
Compartió Compartieron
Pause for Practice
But… we haven’t
talked about stemchanging verbs.
Like reflexive verbs, stemchanging verbs are a “type” of
verb and exist in all verb tenses.
HOWEVER… to stem-change
in preterite tense, the verb has
to meet certain conditions.
1) The stem-changing verb has to
be an –IR infinitive.
PEDIR
REPETIR
DIVERTIR
DORMIR
SERVIR
VESTIR
COMPETIR
MORIR
2) The subject has
to use a 3rd
person ending.
X
X
PROBARSE – to try on
Me probé
Nos probamos
Te probaste
Os probasteis
Se probó
Se probaron
PROBARSE is NOT an –IR verb and,
therefore, will not stem-change.
ENTENDER – to understand
Entendí
Entendimos
Entendiste
Entendisteis
Entendió
Entendieron
ENTENDER is NOT an –IR verb and,
therefore, will not stem-change.
DORMIR – to sleep
Dormí
Dormimos
Dormiste
Dormisteis
Durmió
Durmieron
DORMIR IS an –IR verb and, therefore,
will stem-change, but only in 3rd person.
Pause for Practice
Vamos a practicar.
Necesitan una pizarrita,
un borrador y un
marcador.
NADAR - yo
NADÉ
CREAR - nosotros
CREAMOS
ESCRIBIR (usted)
ESCRIBIÓ
DIBUJAR - tú
DIBUJASTE
CANTAR - ellos
CANTARON
VER (ellos)
VIERON
LLAMAR (nosotros)
LLAMAMOS
BEBER (yo)
BEBÍ
There are clue words that
indicate that the action took
place in the past and will use
the preterite tense. Translate as
many of these words as you
can.
These “helper” words include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ayer
Anoche
Esta mañana
La semana pasada
El mes pasado
El año pasado
Anteayer
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Yesterday
Last night
This morning
Last week
Last month
Past year
The day before
yesterday
Please write them in your purple P/I booklet on page 17.
Besides those stem-changers,
which we will cover in-depth at a
later time, there are other spelling
changes that take place.
The first set are those verbs
that end in…
-GAR
-CAR
-ZAR
Saquen sus “libritos de notas”
y ábranlos a la página 3.
Van a tomar más notas.
For –GAR verbs, the “G”
changes to “GU”…
… but only in the YO
form.
JUGAR – to play
Jugué
Jugamos
Jugaste
Jugasteis
Jugó
Jugaron
Other –GAR verbs include:
•
•
•
•
LLEGAR
PAGAR
OBLIGAR
NAVEGAR
•
•
•
•
to arrive
to pay
to force
to navegate
Choose two verbs from the list and conjugate on
page 4 in the top two boxes.
For –CAR verbs, the “C”
changes to “QU”…
… but only in the YO
form.
BUSCAR – to look for
Busqué
Buscamos
Buscaste Buscasteis
Buscó
Buscaron
Other –CAR verbs include:
•
•
•
•
•
SACAR
PRACTICAR
CALIFICAR
EXPLICAR
TOCAR
•
•
•
•
•
to take (out)
to practice
to grade
to explain
to play
Choose two verbs from the list and conjugate on
page 4 in the middle two boxes.
For –ZAR verbs, the
“Z” changes to “C”…
… but only in the YO
form.
ALMORZAR – to have lunch
Almorcé
Almorzamos
Almorzaste Almorzasteis
Almorzó
Almorzaron
Other –ZAR verbs include:
•
•
•
•
EMPEZAR
COMENZAR
ORGANIZAR
TROPEZAR
•
•
•
•
to begin, start
to commence
to organize
to trip (over)
Choose two verbs from the list and conjugate on
page 4 in the bottom two boxes.
Vamos a practicar.
Necesitan una pizarrita,
un borrador y un
marcador.
LLEGAR - yo
LLEGUÉ
COMENZAR - yo
COMENCÉ
TROPEZAR - yo
TROPECÉ
CALIFICAR - yo
CALIFIQUÉ
PAGAR - yo
PAGUÉ
So… what do you remember?
• When is preterite tense used?
• Which two types of infinitives share a box?
• Which two forms of NADAR have accents on
them?
• What is the only kind of infinitive that will
stem-change in preterite tense?
• -GARs, -CARs and –ZARs have spelling changes
in only which form?
• In a –ZAR verb, what does the “Z” change to?