Preterite/ El pretérito

A.k.a Past tense

Past tense

• There are two different kinds of past tense verbs: – Preterite– Imperfect

• Preterite tense is used when the action has been completed. There was a beginning and an end.

Regular Conjugation-é -amos-aste -asteis-ó -aronAR

-Í -imos-iste -isteis-ió -ieron

ER/IR

Note: I am now including the vosotros form. It takes the place of the usually empty box.

ExamplesNadar To swimnadé nadamosnadaste nadasteisnadó nadaron

Entender To understandentendí entendimosentendiste entendisteisentendió entendieron

Salir To go outsalí salimossaliste salisteissalió salieron

Stem Changing Verbs/Sandal VerbsThese verbs only change in the él,ella, usted and the ellos, ellas, ustedes forms. They are always IR verbs (except for “leer”).

Dormir To sleepdormí dormimosdormiste dormisteisdurmió durmieron

Pedir To orderpedí pedimospediste pedisteispidió pidieron

Other stem changing verbs:

Servir (to serve)Mentir (to lie)

“y” VerbsAlso part of the Sandal Verbs because only the “él” and “ellos”

forms change.

Oir To hearoí oímosoíste oísteisoyó oyeron

Leer To readleí leímosleíste leísteisleyó leyeron

Other “y” verbs• Construir

(to build)• Creer (to

believe)• Caer (to

fall)

-car, -gar, -zar Verbs

Verbs ending in –car, -gar, or –zar have an irregular “yo” form in the preterit tense.

Sacar To take outsaqué sacamossacaste sacasteissacó sacaron

-car, -gar, -zar Verbs

Llegar To arrivellegué llegamosllegaste llegasteisllegó llegaron

Almorzar To eat lunchalmorcé almorzamosalmorzaste almorzasteisalmorzó almorzaron

-car, -gar, -zar Verbs

• Other –car, -gar, -zar verbs:– Jugar (to play)– Pagar (to pay)– Tocar (to touch, to play)– Buscar (to look for)– Sacar (to take)– Emepezar (to begin)– Cazar (to hunt)– Comenzar (to begin)

Preterite Notes

• The vosotros form is just the tú form with an “ies” added at the end.

• Words associated with the preterite tense– Ayer (yesterday)– El año pasado (the past year, last year)– La semana pasada (the past week, last week)– Anoche (last night)