The
Preterite
Tense
for regular verbs
Spanish One ch.7B
The Preterite Tense
1. The preterite tense is used to discuss
completed actions in the past.
ie...Yesterday he ATE the sandwich.
2. The preterite tense is a simple tense
meaning it is made up of just one
word.
ie...Ayer él COMIÓ el sandwich.
3. The preterite tense is only one of two
past tenses in Spanish. *(You will learn
the imperfect tense in level 2)
To Conjugate Reg. AR Verbs
1. Find the stem by dropping the last two
letters off of the infinitive form of the
verb. ie….habl ar
2. Then add the appropriate verb
endings.
AR
é
aste
ó
amos
aron
To Conjugate Reg. AR Verbs
HABLAR – AR = HABL
hablé
hablamos
hablaste
habló
hablaron
To Conjugate Reg. ER/IR Verbs
1. Find the stem by dropping the last two
letters off of the infinitive form of the
verb. ie….com er
2. Then add the appropriate verb
endings.
ER / IR
í
imos
iste
ió ieron
To Conjugate Reg. ER/IR Verbs
CONOCER – ER = CONOC
conocí
conocimos
conociste
conoció conocieron
Stem Changes
* AR and ER verbs DO NOT have stem
changes in the preterite.
Only IR verbs that have a stem change
in the present tense, only have a one
letter stem change in the preterite and
only in box 3 and 5.
ie…dormir
dormí
dormimos
dormiste
durmió
durmieron
Orthographic Spelling Changes
* Remember that you CANNOT change
the sound of a letter by conjugating.
Orthographic spelling changes will
regularly occur in AR verbs whose
stems end in C, G, or Z.
C QU
G GU
Z C
Orthographic Spelling Changes
JUGAR – AR = JUG
jugué
jugaste
jugó
jugamos
jugaron
Sentence Examples
• Hablé con mi hermana ayer.
• I talked with my sister yesterday.
• Juan bailó el lunes.
• Juan danced on Monday.
• Tomaste los refrescos a la fiesta.
• You drank soft drinks at the party.
Preterite Usages
What is do you use to use the
preterite to describe?
• Specific completed events in the
past.
Extra Practice
caminé
caminar (yo) ________________
corrieron
correr (ellos) _______________
bucear (nosotros) ____________
busceamos
bebiste
beber (tú) __________________
bailó
bailar (él) __________________
lavar (ella) ________________
lavó
escribieron
escribir (Uds.) _______________
pasar (nosotras) _____________
pasamos
jugué
jugar (yo) ________________