El pretérito indefinido
the preterite tense expresses a complete action in past time
ex. – Escribí una carta a mis amigas. – I wrote a letter to my friends.
a preterite verb can have two translations in English:
ex. – hablé – I spoke, I did speak
to form the preterite of regular verbs, add the following endings to the present stem
for –AR verbs
for –ER/–IR verbs
é
amos
í
imos
aste asteis
iste
isteis
ó
aron
ió
ieron
be careful of verbs ending in –car, –gar, and –zar
these verb forms change their spelling in the “yo” form (and only in the “yo” form)
–car to –qué
–gar to –gué
–zar to –cé
the following verbs are very irregular in the preterite tense
ser and ir have the same conjugation
fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron
dar takes the unaccented endings of regular –ER/–IR verbs
di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron
The Preterite of Stem-Changing Verbs
remember that a stem-change is both visible and audible
these verbs take the regular –IR preterite endings
remember the rules:
–AR and –ER verbs are never stem-changing in the preterite
–IR verbs that are stem-changing in the present also change their stems in the
preterite, but only in the 3rd person (singular and plural): ‘o’ to ‘u’ and ‘e’ to ‘i’
dormir
pedir
dormí
dormimos
perdí
perdimos
dormiste
dormisteis
perdiste
perdisteis
durmió
durmieron
pidió
pidieron
The Preterite of Verbs with an Orthographic Change
remember that an orthographic (spelling) change is visible, not audible
the whole purpose of the orthographic change is to preserve the sound so that there is no
audible discrepancy between the spoken language and the written one
these verbs take the regular preterite endings according to their conjugation
an orthographic change can occur in any person or number of the verb
remember the rule for the 3rd person (singular and plural): ‘j’ or ‘y’, good-bye to the ‘i’
jugar
empezar
jugué
jugamos
empecé
empezamos
jugaste
jugó
jugasteis
jugaron
buscar
busqué
buscamos
buscaste
buscasteis
buscó
buscaron
empezaste
empezasteis
empezó
empezaron
destruir
destruí
destruimos
destruiste
destruisteis
destruyó
destruyeron
leer
leí
leíste
leyó
oír
leímos
leísteis
leyeron
oí
oíste
oyó
oímos
oísteis
oyeron
The Preterite of Irregular Verbs
almost all of the irregular verbs in the preterite follow the same pattern
add the irregular endings to the irregular stem
the irregular endings are:
e
imos
iste
isteis
o
ieron
remember the rule for the 3rd person, plural: ‘j’ or ‘y’, good-bye to the ‘i’
the irregular stems are as follows:
andar – anduvcaber – cupestar – estuvpoder – pudponer – pussaber – suptener – tuvdecir – dijtraer – traj-ducir – -duj-*
*all verbs ending in “-ducir” take “-duj-“ plus the irregular endings in the preterite
hacer – hiz-/hic-**
**beware of orthographic changes
querer – quisvenir – vinpoder
decir
pude
pudimos
dije
dijimos
pudiste
pudisteis
dijiste
dijisteis
pudo
pudieron
dijo
dijeron
traducir
traduje
tradujimos
tradujiste
tradujisteis
tradujo
tradujeron
hacer
hice
hiciste
hizo
hicimos
hicisteis
hicieron
three verbs do not follow the abovementioned rules
ser/ir
dar
fui
fuimos
di
fuiste
fuisteis
diste
fue
fueron
dio
dimos
disteis
dieron
Reflexive Verbs
a reflexive verb is one in which the doer and the receiver of the action are the same
ex. I wash myself.
all reflexive verbs must be conjugated with reflexive pronouns
just like the direct object and indirect object pronouns:
the reflexive pronoun precedes the conjugated verb
it may be attached to an infinitive
it may be attached to a gerund
examples of reflexive verbs
Yo me lavo. – I wash myself.
Ella se pone la chaqueta. – She puts on the jacket.
Nosotros nos despedimos de nuestros padres. – We say good-bye to our parents.
Los chicos no quieren cepillarse los dientes. – The boys do not want to brush their
teeth.
¿A qué hora te despertaste tú? – What time did you wake up?
Quiero desayunarme a las siete de la mañana. – I want to eat breakfast at 7:00 AM.