Español III- Repaso del examen final
The Preterite tense: is used for past actions that are seen as completed and to describe events that
happened at a definite point in the past.
The following words or phrases help to indicate when to use the past tense.
You should use these often when writing or speaking in the past:
el otro día  the other day
el año pasado  last year
ayer  yesterday
anteayer  the day before yesterday
una vez   once
anoche  last night
la semana pasada  last week
el mes pasado  last month
esta manaña this morning
esta tarde this afternoon
To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the
following:
é
aste
ó
amos
asteis
aron
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
Verbs that end in -car change c to qu
Verbs that end in -zar change z to c
To conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-er or -ir) and add
one of the following:
í
iste
ió
imos
isteis
ieron
Preterite: ser & ir: both verbs use the same chart and conjugations
fui
fuiste
fue
fuimos
fuisteis
fueron
Irregular Preterite
-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. For example:
Present
cerrar
cierro
Preterite
cerrar
cerré
-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. For example:
Present
dormir
duerme
Preterite
dormir
durmió
decir
dije
dijiste
dijo
dijimos
dijisteis
dijeron
traer
traje
trajiste
trajo
trajimos
trajisteis
trajeron
Infinitive
andar
estar
tener
caber
haber
poder
poner
saber
hacer
querer
venir
ver
vi
viste
vio
vimos
visteis
vieron
Stem
Change
anduvestuvtuvcuphubpudpussuphicquisvin-
The Imperfect:
The imperfect is used for past actions that are not seen as completed. Use of the imperfect tense
implies that the past action did not have a definite beginning or a definite end.
Some words and phrases indicate repetitive, vague or non-specific time frames, and therefore
signal the use of the imperfect.
a menudo (often)
cada mes (every month)
a veces (sometimes)
cada año (every year)
cada día (every day)
con frecuencia (frequently)
cada semana (every week)
siempre (always)
frecuentemente (frequently)
todas las semanas (every week)
generalmente (usually)
todos los días (every day)
muchas veces (many times)
todo el tiempo (all the time)
mucho (a lot)
nunca(never)
To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the imperfect, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the
following:
aba
abas
aba
ábamos
abais
aban
To conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the imperfect, simply drop the ending (-er or -ir) and
add one of the following:
ía
ías
ía
íamos
íais
ían
Irregular imperfect:
Good news! There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect. You must simply memorize
them.
ser
era
eras
era
éramos
erais
eran
ir
iba
ibas
iba
íbamos
ibais
iban
ver
veía
veías
veía
veíamos
veíais
veían
Preterite vs. Imperfect:
Generally speaking, 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.
Generally speaking, the imperfect is used for actions in the past that are not seen as completed.
Use of the imperfect tense implies that the past action did not have a definite beginning or a
definite end.
Present and Past Progressive:
The present and past progressive is formed by combining the verb "to be" with a participle. (The
present participle is merely the "-ing" form of a verb.)
In English, the progressive can be used to describe what is happening now, or what happened
was happening.
To form the progressive in Spanish, combine a form of "estar" with the participle.
In order to form the present progressive, you must know how to conjugate the verb estar, and
how to form the present participle. You already know how to conjugate the verb estar:
Estar (present)
Estar (imperfect)
Estoy
estás
está
estamos
estáis
están
estaba
estabas
estaba
estabamos
estabais
estaban
To form the present participle of regular -ar verbs, add -ando to the stem of the verb.
To form the present participle of regular -er and -ir verbs, add -iendo to the stem of the
verb.
Example: hablar: hablando & comer: comiendo
Irregulars:
caer: cayendo
creer: creyendo
huir: huyendo
ir: yendo
influir: influyendo
oír: oyendo
traer: trayendo
leer: leyendo
seguir: siguiendo
decir: diciendo (e:i)
dormir: durmiendo (o:u)
seguir: siguiendo
leer: leyendo
Future Tense:
The future tense is used to tell what "will" happen, or what "shall" happen. The future tense is
also used to express wonder or probability in the present state.
Regular verbs in the future tense are conjugated by adding the following endings to the infinitive
form of the verb:
-é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án.
Example: hablaré = I will talk
There are twelve common verbs that are irregular in the future tense. Their endings are regular,
but their stems change.
Caber - cabr
Poner- pondr
Decir- dir
Haber- habr
Salir- saldr
Hacer- har
Poder- podr
Tener- tendr
Querer- querr
Valer- valdr
Saber-sabr
venir-vendr