Pretérito
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Pretérito The preterite is used for actions in the past that are seen as completed. Use of the preterite tense implies that the past action had a definite beginning and definite end. Ejemplo: Juan habló con la estudiante. John spoke with the student. To conjugate verbs to preterite tense, you drop the –ar, -er, and –ir. Then, add the following endings: -AR é aste ó -ER & -IR amos asteis aron í iste ió imos isteis ieron In Spanish, some verbs that express a mental state have different meaning when used in the preterite. 1. Conocer – to know or to be acquainted with; prêt – met for first time La conocí la semana pasada en el baile. I met her last week at the dance. 2. Poder – to be able to; prêt - succeeded Pude hacerlo. I succeeded in doing it. 3. Poder – to be able to; prêt – when used negative means failed No pude hacerlo. I failed to do it. 4. Querer – to wish or to want; prêt – tried Quise llamarle. I tried to call you. 5. Querer – to wish or to want; prêt – when used negative means refused No quise hacerlo. I refused to do it. 6. Saber – to know; prêt – found out Supe la verdad. I found out the truth. 7. Tener – to have; prêt – received Tuve una carta de mi amigo Roberto. I received a letter from my friend Robert. Irregulars: Estar Hacer Poder Poner Querer Saber Tener Venir Andar Decir Traer estuvhicpud- -e pusquissuptuvvinanduvdij-e traj- -imos -iste -isteis -o -ieron -imos -iste -o -isteis -eron Dar di diste dio Ser/Ir dimos disteis dieron fui fuimos fuiste fuisteis fue fueron In order to preserve the sound of the infinitive, a number of verbs change orthographically (spelling) in the preterite tense. The following changes occur in the yo form only: Verbs that end in -gar change g to gu jugar llegar pagar Verbs that end in -car change c to qu buscar practicar tocar Verbs that end in -zar change z to c almorzar comenzar empezar For verbs that end in -aer, -eer, -oír, and -oer, the él,/ella/usted form uses the ending yó (rather than ió) and the third person plural uses the ending yeron (rather than ieron). The remaining forms gain a written accent over the letter i. creer creí creíste creyó creímos creísteis creyeron Other verbs like creer include: Exceptions to this rule include: caer traer leer oír Verbs that end in -uir change in the same way, but the written accent over the letter i only occurs in the yo form. huir huí huiste huyó huimos huisteis huyeron Other verbs like huir include: construir contribuir destruir -ar and -er verbs that change their stem in the present tense do not change in the preterite. They are conjugated just like other regular preterite verbs. Present Preterite Present entender entiendo entiendes entiende entendemos entendéis entienden Preterite cerrar entendí entendiste entendió entendimos entendisteis entendieron cierro cierras cierra cerramos cerráis cierran cerré cerraste cerró cerramos cerrasteis cerraron -ir verbs that change their stem in the present tense do change in the preterite, but in a different way. They change e:i and o:u in the third person, singular and plural. Present Preterite Present preferir prefiero prefieres prefiere preferimos preferís prefieren Preterite dormir preferí preferiste prefirió preferimos preferisteis prefirieron duermo duermes duerme dormimos dormís duermen dormí dormiste durmió dormimos dormisteis durmieron
