MIDTERM EXAM
GRAMMAR NOTES
PRETERITE CONJUGATIONS
Preterite is a form of the past tense.
It is used to express actions that happened one time in the past.
It is also used to express a past action that interrupts another past action.
There are a LOT of rules for Preterite Tense! Please review!
REGULAR VERBS:
-AR
-é
-amos
-aste -asteis
-ó
-aron
-ER & -IR
-í
-imos
-iste
-ís
-ió
-ieron
SPELLING CHANGES:
In the YO form of the following types of verbs it is necessary to make spelling changes to preserve the
pronunciation of the verb:
-GAR – yo ending becomes –GUÉ
-CAR – yo ending becomes – QUÉ
-ZAR – you ending becomes – CÉ
IRREGULAR PRETERITE: NOTICE THAT NONE OF THE IRREGULAR PRETERITES GET ACCENT MARKS!!!!
IR
SER
HACER
fui
fuimos
fui
fuimos
hice
hicimos
fuiste
fuisteis
fuiste
fuisteis
hiciste
hicisteis
fue
fueron
fue
fueron
hizo
hicieron
DAR
di
diste
dio
VER
dimos
disteis
dieron
vi
viste
vio
vimos
visteis
vieron
PRETERITE VERBS W/ IRREGULAR STEMS: The following verbs have special stems and different endings:
NEW STEMS
andar – anduv
estar - estuv
poder – pud
poner – pus
querer – quis
saber – sup
tener – tuv
venir – vin
decir – dij*
traer – traj*
conducir – conduj*
producir – produj*
traducir – traduj*
ENDINGS
-e
-imos
-iste
-isteis
-o
-ieron / *eron
*These verbs use a separate ellos/ellas/Uds ending in order to maintain pronunciation.
IMPERFECT CONJUGATIONS
Imperfect tense is a form of the past tense
It is used to express actions that happened repeatedly in the past (“used to”) or an on-going past action .
It is also used to express age, dates, times, and descriptions in the past.
The endings are:
- AR
-aba
-ábamos
-abas
-abaís
-aba
-aban
-ía
-ías
-ía
-ER / -IR
-íamos
-íais
-ían
*Notice that the “yo” form and the “el/ella/Ud” form have the same endings
The following are the only irregular verbs in the Imperfect:
SER
era
eras
era
IR
éramos
erais
eran
iba
ibas
iba
VER
ibamos
ibais
iban
veía
veías
veía
veíamos
veíais
veían
PRETERITE vs IMPERFECT
Preterite and Imperfect are both forms of the PAST tense. You must employ the following rules to determine which
on to use.
PRETERITE
*one time past actions
*actions with specific beginning & end times
*actions that interrupt on going past actions
IMPERFECT
*actions that happened repeatedly in the past
*actions with unspecified beginning & end times
*on-going past actions (can be interrupted by another action)
*descriptions
*age
*date & time
Stem-Changing Verbs
(PRESENT TENSE)
Stem-Changing verbs in the present tense are also called “Boot Verbs”. Nosotros and Vosotros forms are outside of
the “boot” and therefore do NOT get the stem-change.
You have learned the following stem-changes:
e – ie
o – ue
e-i
u-ue
For now you must memorize which verbs get spelling-changes. As you continue to study Spanish you will be able to
naturally recognize stem-changing verbs. Below is a list of verbs that get stem-changes:
e-ie = perder / atender / entender / querer/ cerrar/ comenzar / despertarse / empezar / merendar / nevar/ pensar/
recomendar/ sentarse
o-ue= poder / devolver / doler / llover/ mover/ resolver / volver/ acostarse/almorzar/contar/costar/encontrar/mostrar/
recordar/ volar
e-i = competir / conseguir / despedirse / repetir / seguir / servir / vestirse
u-ue - jugar
Nationalities
Nationalities are listed on pg. 82 of your textbook.
Don’t forget that Nationalities are adjectives. Therefore you must make them agree in number and gender.
The following Nationalities stay the same for masculine AND feminine and just as “s” for plural:
nicaragϋense
costarricense
estadounidense
canadiense
The following Nationalities have changes for feminine forms. They drop the accent and add a letter(s):
inglés – inglesa (es)(as)
español – española(es)(as)
francés – francesa(es)(as)
japonés – japonesa(es)(as)
alemán – alemana(es)(as)
REFLEXIVE VERBS (REVIEW FROM SPANISH 1)
If a verb is reflexive it means that the subject is doing the action to him/herself
Reflexive verbs MUST be accompanied by a reflexive pronoun.
Reflexive verbs end in “se”. (example: cepillar el pelo = to brush someone else’s hair
cepillarse el pelo = to brush one’s own hair
Some feeling verbs are reflexive as well. (example: enfadarse = to get angry)
The reflexive pronouns are as follows:
(yo) me + verb
nosotros nos + verb
(tú)
te + verb
vosotros
(he se + verb
she
you f.)
(ellos
ellas
you f/pl)
os + verb
se + verb
Progressive Tenses
We have learned two types of progressive tenses:
PRESENT PROGRESSIVE = is/are ______________ing
IMPERFECT PROGRESSIVE = was/ were _________________ing
Present Progressive
ESTAR
+ PRESENT PARTICIPLE
(present tense)
Imperfect Progressive
ESTAR + PRESENT PARTICIPLE
(imperfect tense)
Present Participles are formed by dropping:
-AR and changing it to –ANDO
-ER & -IR and changing it to –IENDO
DO NOT FORGET THAT YOU MUST USE THE VERB ESTAR TO FORM THE PROGRESSIVE!!!!!!!
Ordinal Numbers
Ordinal numbers in English are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.
We learned through 10th.
Ordinal numbers must agree in number and gender.
Don’t forget that 1st (primero) and 3rd (tercero) drop the “o” when they are followed by a masculine singular noun.
example: Juan era el primer chico a llegar. Primero is followed by the word “chico” which is a masculine/singular
noun
Juan era primero.  In this case, primero is not followed by anything – so you keep the “o” on the end.