Preterite tense verbs
Explanation and conjugations
Preterite Tense Notes
Preterite tense
•The preterite is used for a past action that is completed. Treat the preterite
tense as a word ending in the letters -ED.
How to form regular verbs:
1: drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir)
2: add the appropriate endings to match the subject.
-ar verb endings
-er /-ir endings
é
aste
ó
amos
asteis
aron
í
iste
ió
imos
isteis
ieron
Note: the nosotros forms for -ar and -ir verbs are the same in both preterite
and present tenses: hablamos, vivimos. Context gives us the clues to know
which tense is being used.
Conversación
Your partner asks if you did each of
these actions yesterday. Respond yes
and add a sentence about how it was
(ie. "it was fun")
• comer en un
restaurante
• enviar textos
• tomar el tren
• escribir un ensayo
•
•
•
•
leer un libro
ver una película
trabajar
visitar la familia
Spelling Changes in the Preterit
Changes for sound
•In order to preserve the sound of the
infinitive verb, some verbs change spelling
in a few forms in the preterite tense.
• "Yo" form changes only:
– Verbs that end in -gar change g to gué
Verbs that end in -car change c to qué
Verbs that end in -zar change z to cé
Ayer, yo tocé el
toqué
piano
Jugar
jugué
jugamos
jugaste
jugó
Buscar
jugaron
busqué
buscamos
buscaste
Empezar
empecé
empezamos
empezaste
empezó
empezaron
buscó
buscaron
Spelling Changes, continued
• For ER/IR verbs that end in two vowels before
the R (ie "leer" or "contribuir"), some the 3rd
and 5th forms will conjugate with 3 vowels in
a row
• This is not usually allowed in Spanish, so
the "i" is changed into a "y":
Leer
Leí
Leimos
Leiste
Leisteis
Leyó
Leyeron
Listening practice
1. Hola, amigo. ¿Recibiste las notas del primer
semestre?
2. Sí, nos las pasaron en la segunda clase.
3. ¿Y sacaste buenas notas?
4. Sí, en todos menos la clase de Profe Brown. Él me
marcó muy mal.
5. ¿Hablaste con él?
6. Sí, unos otros estudiantes y yo fuimos a su oficina
para preguntarle por qué.
7. ¿Y qué les contestó?
8. Que no estudiamos suficientemente para el
examen.
9. Ay, sí. Yo también fracasé en éste.
7
10. Sí, fue horrible.
Stem changers in the 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.
Soñar - to dream
Devolver - to return
Soñé
Soñamos
Devolví
Devolvimos
Soñaste
Soñasteis
Devolviste
Devolvisteis
Soñó
Soñaron
Devolvió
Devolvieron
Stem changers in the preterite
• -ir verbs that change their stem in the present tense
do change in the preterite. However, they make
different changes in the preterite:
• If they change o-UE in the present, they change o-u in
the preterite. This change only occurs in the él and
ellos forms.
Dormir - PRESENT
Dormir - PRETERITE
duermo
Dormí
Dormimos
Duermes
Duerme
Dormimos
Dormiste
Duermen
Durmió
durmieron
Stem changers in the preterite
•If they change e-ie or e-i in the present, they
change e-i in the preterite. This change only
occurs in the él and ellos forms.
Mentir - PRESENT
Mentir - PRETERITE
miento
mentí
mentimos
mientes
miente
mentimos
mentiste
mienten
mintió
mintieron
Irregular Verbs in the Preterite
Alternate endings
•Some verbs, because of their
short length, take alternate
endings
• ser / ir
• dar (takes -er endings)
Irregular Verbs in the Preterite
Alternate endings
• A number of verbs that are irregular in
the preterite follow a particular pattern.
Their stems change in ALL FORMS, and
they all take the following irregular
endings:
• -e
-imos
-iste
-isteis
-o
-ieron
Here are the irregular verbs, along with their corresponding stem
changes. Remember to use the irregular endings on these verbs.
Infinitive
Stem Change
estar
estuv-
tener
tuv-
poder
pud-
poner
pus-
saber
sup-
hacer
hic-
querer
quis-
venir
vin-
decir
dij-
traer
traj-
Note: One exception is the él
form (3rd person, singular) of
hacer. To preserve the sound, the
C changes to Z to form "él hizo."
Note: A second exception is the
ellos form (3rd person, plural) of
decir and traer. These two verbs
take the ending "eron", without
the normal "i"