The Preterite & The Preterite & The ImperfectThe Imperfect

Concepts and FormsConcepts and Forms

The concept of the The concept of the Preterite TensePreterite Tense

• Expresses actions or events that began and ended at a definite time in the past: for example, a week ago, last month, yesterday, last summer.

EjemplosEjemplos

• Abe Lincoln fue presidente en 1864.

• Los congresistas americanos firmaron la Declaración de Independencia el 2 de agosto, 1776.

Más ejemplosMás ejemplos

• Mi hija compró un Civic y yo compré un Accord el mismo día en mayo, 2005.

• Mi esposo y yo fuimos a Charleston, S.C. en abril, 2005.

Más ejemplosMás ejemplos

• El equipo jugó anoche.

• Ayer, mi madre me llevó a la casa de mi tía.

• Terminé el libro “Timeline” la semana pasada.

In these examples, why is the preterite used? (i.e., What is the “definite moment in the definite moment in the pastpast”?)

Time expressions that often Time expressions that often accompany the use of the accompany the use of the preterite tensepreterite tense

• ayer

• anoche

• anteayer

• la semana pasada

• hace un mes

• el año pasado

• el fin de semana pasada

• el verano pasado

• el domingo pasado

Forms for the Forms for the PreteritePreterite

Regular –ar VerbsRegular –ar Verbs

•-é

•-aste

•-ó

•-amos

•-asteis

•-aron

Ejemplo: “trabajar”

• trabajé

• trabajaste

• trabajó

• trabajamos

• trabajasteis

• trabajaron

Regular –ar verbs have a spelling change in the “yo” form only…

• -gar -gué

• -car -qué

• -zar -cé

… for verbs that end with:

Ejemplo: “jugar”

• jugué

• jugaste

• jugó

• jugamos

•jugasteis

• jugaron

Regular –er/-ir VerbsRegular –er/-ir Verbs

•-í

•-iste

•-ió

•-imos

•-isteis

•-ieron

Ejemplo: “vivir”

• viví

• viviste

• vivió

• vivimos

• vivisteis

• vivieron

““Dar”: confused identityDar”: confused identity

• “Dar” is an “-ar” verb that prefers to belong in the company of regular “-er” and “-ir” verbs. It uses their endings:

• di dimos

• diste disteis

• dio dieron

In fact, it’s best friends with “ver”!

vi vimos

viste visteis

vio vieron

Irregular Verbs in the Irregular Verbs in the PreteritePreterite

• fui

• fuiste

• fue

• fuimos

• fuisteis

• fueron

Ir & Ir &

SerSer

Irregular categories

• “y” group (only slightly irregular)

• “worm” verbs (only slightly irregular)

• “u” group

• “v” group

• “i” group

• “j” group

““y” groupy” group

• The verbs that belong to this group are verbs that end in –er or –ir, and that have a vowel as the last letter in the stem.

• leer

• creer

• oír

• construir

• (caer)

• (huir)

How do they work?How do they work?

• leí

• leíste

• leyó

• leímos

• leísteis

• leyeron

(leer)(leer)

The “y” replaces what letter?

““Worm” verbsWorm” verbs

• Some verbs follow a pattern that affects only the 3rd person singular and plural forms.

• See if you can describe the pattern after studying the next two slides.

““Worm” verb: Worm” verb: dormirdormir

• dormí

• dormiste

• durmió

• dormimos

• dormisteis

• durmieron

Before we state the rule, let’s look at another

““Worm” verb: Worm” verb: morirmorir

• morí

• moriste

• murió

• morimos

• moristeis

• murieron

To state the rule, consider what the change is and what verbs are affected.

““Worm” verbsWorm” verbs

• Some verbs ending in “-ir” that have an “o” in the stem, make a change from “o” to “u”.

• This change only happens in the él/ella/Ud. form and the ellos/ellas/Uds. form.

Other “worm” verbs:Other “worm” verbs:eeii

• pedí

• pediste

• pidió

• pedimos

• pedisteis

• pidieron

Recap: “y” group Recap: “y” group

• What did you find out about forming the preterite for the “y” group? What’s an example of a verb that fits in this category? • The verbs that

belong to this group are verbs that end in –er or –ir, and that have a vowel as the last letter in the stem.

Recap: “worm” verbsRecap: “worm” verbs

• What did you find out about forming the preterite for “worm” verbs? What’s an example of a verb that fits in this category? • The verbs that belong to

this group end in “–ir”, have either an “o” that changes to “u” or an “e” that changes to “i”, but only in the 3rd sing. and plural.

Now it Now it REALLYREALLY gets harder!gets harder!

We use the following preterite endings for 3 groups.

-e-e -imos-imos

-iste-iste (-isteis)(-isteis)

-o-o -ieron-ieron

““u” groupu” group

““v” groupv” group

““i” groupi” group

The “u” groupThe “u” group

• saber = to know/find out (sup-)

• poder = to be able/succeed(pud-)

• poner = to put (pus-)

Preterite forms of “saber”Preterite forms of “saber”

• supe

• supiste

• supo

• supimos

• supisteis

• supieron

Preterite forms of “poder”Preterite forms of “poder”

• pude

• pudiste

• pudo

• pudimos

• pudisteis

• pudieron

The “v” groupThe “v” group

• andar = to run, walk (anduv-)

• tener = to have (tuv-)

• estar = to be (estuv-)

The “i” groupThe “i” group• querer = to want (quis-)

• venir = to come (vin-)

• hacer = to do/make (hic-) (but, “él hizo”)

The “j” groupThe “j” group

• decir = to say/tell (dij-)

• traer = to bring (traj-)

• traducir = to translate (traduj-)

• producir = to produce (produj-)

• conducir = to drive (conduj-) -e-e -imos-imos

-iste-iste (-isteis)(-isteis)

-o-o -eron-eron

““decir” in the preteritedecir” in the preterite((dij-dij-))

• dije

• dijiste

• dijo

• dijimos

• dijisteis

• dijeron

The concept of the Imperfect The concept of the Imperfect TenseTense

• The primary difference between the preterite and the imperfect, is that the imperfect is not specific to any specific time period in the past.

UsesUses

• Age

• Continuous, habitual or repeated action(s)

• Time & date

• Interrupted action (with preterite being used to describe the interrupting action)

• Conditions or physical characteristics (provided usually as background)

Uses, cont’dUses, cont’d

• “heart” and “head” (emotions and mental states)

• following “mientras”

• “used to”

• “was/were __-ing”

• “was/were going to” + infinitive–Iba a estudiar, pero no lo hice.

“Heart” and “Head”

• Usually when you want to express ideas such as “querer”, “esperar”, etc. or “pensar”, “creer”, etc., the preferred tense is the imperfect. (Also, many verbs preserve their meaning better when expressed in the imperfect. Sometimes these “heart/head” verbs have a slightly different meaning when used in the preterite.)

Verb meaningsVerb meanings

• querer = to want• no querer = to not want• saber = to know• conocer = to know• poder = to be able• no poder = to not be

able

• to try• to refuse• to find out• to meet• to succeed• to fail

Interrupted & Interrupting Interrupted & Interrupting ActionsActions

Whenever you have one action interrupting another action, use the preterite for the interrupting action and the imperfect for the action that was interrupted.

Mientras yo cocinaba, el gato se cayó de la mesa.

Time Expressions: ImperfectTime Expressions: Imperfect• siempre• a veces• muchas veces• de vez en

cuando• raramente• a menudo• frecuentemente• cada vez

• los __ (days/seasons)

• cada __ (day/month/season/year)

• todo el tiempo

• mientras

• ya no

““nuncanunca” may be used with ” may be used with either preterite or imperfect, either preterite or imperfect, whichever conveys the whichever conveys the intended meaning.intended meaning.

““Haber”Haber”

Había = “There was” / “There were”

Hubo = “There took place”

imperfect preterite

Imperfect Forms: regular

• -aba

• -abas

• -aba

• -ábamos

• -abais

• -aban

-ar verbs-ar verbs

Imperfect Forms: regular

• -ía

• -ías

• -ía

• -íamos

• -íais

• -ían

-er/-ir verbs-er/-ir verbs

Imperfect: irregular

eraera éramos éramos

eras eraiseras erais

era eranera eran

iba íbamosiba íbamos

ibas ibaisibas ibais

iba ibaniba iban

veía veíamosveía veíamos

veías veíaisveías veíais

veía veíanveía veían