Apuntes 17-18 de marzo
El pretérito de verbos regulares
The Preterite (Simple Past Tense) of Regular Verbs
Yo compré unos zapatos nuevos ayer.
I bought some new shoes yesterday.
Mis amigos compraron unas camisetas.
My friends bought some t-shirts.
Mi madre compró un coche.
My mother bought a car.
Verb endings do two things: they indicate who is doing the action and when it is being
done (past, present,future). Here are three regular verbs conjugated in the preterite
(simple past) tense. Pay special attention to the verb endings.
yo
tú
Ud., él/ella
nosotros/as
vosotros/as
Uds., ellos/as
-ar verbs
hablar (to speak)
-er verbs
comer (to eat)
hablé (I spoke)
hablaste (you spoke)
habló (you, he/she spoke)
hablamos (we spoke)
hablasteis (you spoke)
hablaron (you, they spoke)
comí (I ate)
comiste (you ate)
comió (you, he/she ate)
comimos (we ate)
comisteis (you ate)
comieron (you, they ate)
-ir verbs
vivir (to live)
viví (I lived)
viviste (you lived)
vivió (you, he/she lived)
vivimos (we lived)
vivisteis (you lived)
vivieron (you, they lived)
Present and preterite verb endings
-ar verbs
present preterite
yo
-o
-é
tú
-as
-aste
Ud., él/ella -a
-ó
nosotros/as -amos -amos
vosotros/as -áis
-asteis
Uds., ellos/as -an
-aron
-er verbs
present preterite
-o
-í
-es
-iste
-e
-ió
-emos -imos
-éis
-isteis
-en
-ieron
-ir verbs
present preterite
-o
-í
-es
-iste
-e
-ió
-imos -imos
-ís
-isteis
-en
-ieron
Most stem-changing verbs do not have a stem change in the preterite.
present
preterite
pensar (eie) Mis padres piensan en el futuro. Mis padres pensaron en el futuro.
My parents think about the future.
recordar (oue) Yo no recuerdo el pasado.
I don’t remember the past.
My parents thought about the future.
Yo no recordé el pasado.
I didn’t remember the past.
Verbs that end in –car, -gar, and –zar have a spelling change in the
yo form to maintain the original pronunciation in the infinitive stem.
sacar  yo saqué, tú sacaste, etc.
pagar  yo pagué, tú pagaste, etc.
comenzar  yo comencé, tú comenzaste, etc.
The verbs creer, leer, and oír have a spelling change where the i in the verb ending
changes to y. Notice the accent marks.
creer (to believe)
creí
creímos
creíste creísteis
creyó creyeron
leer (to read)
leí
leímos
leíste leísteis
leyó leyeron
oír (to hear)
oí
oímos
oíste oísteis
oyó
oyeron
Ver is regular in the preterite, but there are no accent marks.
ver (to see)
vi
vimos
viste
visteis
vio
vieron