Español 4 – Repaso de la gramática del Español 3
HACER, QUERER , VENIR in the Preterite tense
The verbs hacer querer and venir have irregular conjugations in the Preterite tense. They all have a stem change
where they have an ‘i’ in the stem.
HACER – to make / to do
yo
tú
él / ella / Ud
hice
hiciste
hizo
nosotros
vosotros
ellos / Uds
hicimos
hicisteis
hicieron
**Notice that in the he / she / you(Ud) form of hacer the ‘c’ changes to ‘z’ for pronunciation purposes!. Also,
notice that with a complete stem change, there are no accents in the ‘yo’ and the ‘él / ella / Ud forms !
VENIR – to come
yo
tú
él / ella / Ud
vine
viniste
vino
nosotros
vosotros
ellos / Uds
vinimos
vinisteis
vinieron
QUERER – to try / to refuse
yo
tú
él / ella / Ud
quise
quisiste
quiso
nosotros
vosotros
ellos / Uds
quisimos
quisisteis
quisieron
The verb QUERER has different meanings in the Preterite tense. In the Present tense it means ‘to want / to wish’. In
the Preterite tense it means ‘to try’ in an affirmative sentence, and means ‘to refuse’ in a negative sentence.
Quise ayudar.
No quise ayudar.
I tried to help.
I refused to help.
The verbs Tener, Estar, and Andar have similar stem changes in the Preterite tense.
TENER – to have
tuve
tuviste
tuvo
tuvimos
tuvisteis
tuvieron
ESTAR – to be
estuve
estuviste
estuvo
estuvimos
estuvisteis
estuvieron
ANADAR – to walk
anduve
anduviste
anduvo
anduvimos
anduvisteis
anduvieron
PONER, PODER, SABER in the Preterite tense
The verbs poner poder and saber have irregular conjugations in the Preterite tense. They all have a stem change
where they have a ‘u’ in the stem.
PONER – to put / to place
yo
tú
él / ella / Ud
puse
pusiste
puso
nosotros
vosotros
ellos / Uds
pusimos
pusisteis
pusieron
PODER – to manage / could not
yo
tú
él / ella / Ud
pude
pudiste
pudo
nosotros
vosotros
ellos / Uds
pudimos
pudisteis
pudieron
The verb PODER has different meanings in the Preterite tense. In the Present tense PODER means ‘to be able’. In
the Preterite, it means ‘managed’ in an affirmative statement, and ‘could not’ in a negative statement:
Pude parar.
No pude parar.
(after trying) I managed to stop.
(I tried but) I couldn’t stop.
SABER – to find out / to learn about
yo
tú
él / ella / Ud
supe
supiste
supo
nosotros
vosotros
ellos / Uds
supimos
supisteis
supieron
The verb SABER means ‘to know’ in the Present tense, but means ‘to find out / to learn about’ in the Preterite tense:
Lo supe ayer.
I found it out (I learned about it) yesterday.
-ir shoe verbs in the Preterite tense
-ir shoe verbs that change from e>ie or e>i in the Present tense have a change e>i in the third person
(he/she/it/Ud/ellos/Uds) in the Preterite tense.
Present (preferir)
Prefiero
Prefieres
Prefiere
preferimos
preferís
prefieren
Preterite (preferir)
preferí
preferiste
prefirió
preferimos
preferisteis
prefirieron
(pedir)
Pido
Pides
Pide
(pedir)
pedimos
pedis
piden
pedí
pediste
pidió
pedimos
pedisteis
pidieron
-ir shoe verbs that have a change from o>ue in the Present tense have a change o>u in the third person in the
Preterite tense.
(dormir)
Duermo
Duermes
Duerme
(dormir)
dormimos
dormís
duermen
dormí
dormiste
durmió
dormimos
dormisteis
durmieron
The Imperfect tense
All –ar verbs are regular in the Imperfect tense. To from the Imperfect of –ar verbs, drop the infinitive ending (-ar)
and add:
Hablar
-aba
-abas
-aba
-ábamos
-abais
-aban
hablaba
hablabas
hablaba
hablábamos
hablabais
hableaban
To form the Imperfect of –er and –ir verbs (except VER IR and SER), drop the infinitive ending and add:
Comer
-ía
-ías
-ía
-íamos
-íais
-ían
comía
comías
comía
comíamos
comíais
comían
Vivir
vivía
vivías
vivía
vivíamos
vivíais
vivían
The Preterite tense is used to describe an event that took place at a specific time in the past:
John visited Mexico last year.
We ate a large meal last night.
The Imperfect tense:

Describes an action that was repeated in the past (always, used to, usually, etc)
John visited Mexico (used to visit) every year.
We ate a large meal every Sunday.
Carlos always spent his vacation in Mexico, but last summer he spent it in Puerto Rico.
On Saturdays I played tennis with Bob, but last week I played tennis with Tom.
Generally I got up early, but yesterday I got up late.

Describes an action that took place over a period of time in the past
I was in Spain for two months last year.
Ana spent three weeks in Argentina.

Describes someone / something in the past; telling time in the past (sets the scene)
Paula was happy.
It was cold in the mountains.
It was two o’clock when he arrived.
Imperfect of SER IR and VER
There are only 3 verbs that are irregular in the Imperfect tense:
SER
Era
Eras
Era
IR
éramos
érais
eran
iba
ibas
iba
VER
íbamos
ibais
iban
veía
veías
veía
veíamos
veíais
veían
Verbs of Mental Processes
Since verbs indication a mental process usually take place over a period of time, they usually are expressed in the
Imperfect tense when talking about the past. The most common verbs of this type are:
Creer
Querer
Preferir
Saber
Desear
Pensar
Poder
Tener ganas de . . .
to believe
to want / wish
to preferir
to know (remember – saber in the Preterite means to find out / to learn about.)
to want
to think
to be able (poder in the Preterite means to manage )
to feel like . . .
Yo creía que Elena me dijo la verdad.
Luisa tenía ganas de ir al cine.
Nuestros padres sabían lo que hicimos.
I believed that Elena told me the truth.
Luisa felt like going to the movies.
Our parents knew what we did.
**Remember that saber has a different meaning in the Preterite tense!
Nuestros padres supieron lo que hicimos.
Our parents found out what we did.
Expressions using TENER
There are some expressions using to be in English that use the verb tener in Spanish. Instead of saying ‘I am, you
are’, etc with these expressions, in Spanish you say, ‘I have, you have’ etc.
I am cold.
You are hungry.
I have cold.
You have hunger.
These expressions include:
To be cold
To be warm 9hot)
To be hungry
To be thirsty
To be afraid (of)
To be in a hurry
To be sleepy
To feel like . . .
tener frío
tener calor
tener hambre
tener sed
tener miedo (de)
tener prisa
tener sueño
tener ganas de . . .
Remember to conjugate ‘tener’ before using these expressions!
I am hungry.
You are thirsty.
He is warm
We are afraid of . . .
Do you feel like eating?
They are sleepy.
Tengo hambre.
Tienes sed.
tiene calor.
tenemos miedo de . . .
¿Tienes ganas de comer?
Tienen sueño.
The Passive Voice
In Spanish, when the subject of the sentence is indefinite or unknown, the Passive voice is used. In the Passive voice,
the subject of the sentence both does and receives the action of the verb. The Passive voice in English is constructed
like this:
Books are sold in the bookstore.
Books, as the subject is also receiving the action. It is both the Subject and the Direct Object.
To form the Passive voice in Spanish, the reflexive pronoun se is followed by the third person (he / she / they) form
of the Present tense.
Se necesita un mechánico porque el carro no corre bien.
A mechanic is needed because the car does not run well.
Which mechanic? Unknown – therefore the Passive voice is used
Se necesitan dos secretarias.
Se venden pasteles en la panadería.
They need two secretaries.
Cakes are sold (they sell cakes) in the bakery.
Se can also be used to express the general subject ‘one’, ‘they’, ‘people’, etc in English.
Aquí se habla español.
Spanish is spoken here.
One speaks Spanish here.
They speak Spanish here.
People speak Spanish here.