Preterite of AR Verbs
Chapter 8 Grammar 1.1

Review of the Present Tense:
How to conjugate an
Drop the “ar” from the AR verb
end of the verb and
add the following
endings.
(yo) hablo
(nosotros)
hablamos
(tú) hablas
(vosotros)
habláis
(ellos/ellas/Uds.)
hablan
(Él/ella/Ud.)
habla

Review of the Present Tense:
How to conjugate an
Drop the “er” from theER verb
end of the verb and
add the following
endings.
(yo) como
(nosotros)
comemos
(tú) comes
(vosotros)
coméis
(Él/ella/Ud.) come (ellos/ellas/Uds.)
comen
Review of the Present Tense:
How to conjugate an
IR verb

Drop the “ir” from the end
of the verb and add the
following endings.
(yo) escribo
(tú) escribes
(Él/ella/Ud.)
escribe
(nosotros)
escribimos
(vosotros)
escribís
(ellos/ellas/Uds.)
escriben
Preterite
Use the preterite tense to talk about what
happened or what someone did at a
specific point in the past.
To form the preterite of verbs that end in
ar, like comprar, drop the ar and add the
following endings.
The preterite shows a completed past
action.
Preterite of AR Endings
(Yo) é
(Nosotros/as) amos
(Tú) aste
(Vosotros/as) asteis
(Él/ella/Usted) ó
(Ellos/ellas/Ustedes)
aron
Ejemplos
•Compré un DVD ayer.
•I bought a DVD yesterday.
•Nadaron en la piscina el fin de semana pasado.
•They swam in the pool this past weekend.
•Hablaste por telefono a tus amigos el lunes
pasado.
•You talked on the telephone to your friends this
past Monday.
Nosotros in the Preterite
Note that, in the preterite, the nosotros form of
ar verbs looks exactly like the present tense
form.
 You will have to use context clues to decide
whether the speaker is talking about the
present or past tense.
 Isa y yo gastamos mucho ayer.
 Casi nunca gastamos tanto.

Stem Changing AR Verbs
The stem changing ar verbs do not have
a stem change in the preterite.
 Encontré una camisa bonita y la compré

Rhyme for AR Preterite

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away
Rhyme for AR Preterite
Little Miss Muffé
 Sat on her aste
 Eating her curds and ó
 Along came Amos
 And sat her on asteis
 And everyone went aron

Which of the following verbs is in
the preterite?
A.
B.
C.
Yo compro
Yo compré
Yo compraba
Which of the following is in the
preterite?
A.
B.
C.
Ella habló
Ella hablé
Ella habla
What does the preterite show?
A.
B.
C.
Same thing the present tense shows.
A completed past action.
An action going on right now.
True/False: Stem changing AR
verbs do not stem change in the
preterite.
A.
B.
True
False
Which of the following could be in
the present AND preterite?
A.
B.
C.
Yo hablo
Usted habla
Nosotros hablamos
[Default]
[MC Any]
[MC All]