The Preterite

Tense
One of the main uses of the Preterite
Tense is to describe COMPLETED
actions in the past. These actions are
completed at one point in the past or
have lasted a SPECIFIC amount of
time in the past.

E.g Ayer , (yo) nadé en la piscina con mis amigos.

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 The Preterite Tense
(endings for Regular Verbs)

(we)
(yo)
(I)
(nosotros)

(you- (tú)
Informal)

él ellos
(he/she/ ella ellas (they/
It/ you- formal) usted ustedes you all)
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2
 Formation of the
Preterite Tense of
REGULAR VERBS

Remember :-

1. Identify the TYPE of verb (a.whether it is –ar,’er,-ir OR b. is it reflexive?)

2. Identify the SUBJECT (this helps you select the APPROPRIATE ending)
3. Remove the “-ar, -er , -ir” ending.
4. Then add the APPROPRIATE ending that agrees with the subject.
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 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (i)

a. Regular verbs that end in -car , change the spelling of the first person singular (‘yo’
form) in the preterite to -qué in order to maintain the same sound as the infinitive. The
rest of the verb follows the regular pattern.

E.g sacar – to take out/remove

Esta mañana, yo saqué muchas fotos.

sacar – to take out tocar- to

play(instrument)
explicar- to explain buscar – to look for
Indicar – to indicate practicar – to
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practice
 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (i)

b. Regular verbs that end in -gar change the spelling of the first person
singular (‘yo’ form) in the preterite to -gué in order to maintain the same
sound as the infinitive. The rest of the verb follows the regular pattern.

E.g jugar – to play (sport/game)

Yo jugué al futbol en el estadio Dwight Yorke.

jugar pegar – to hit

pagar – to pay apagar – to turn off

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 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (i)

c. Regular verbs that end in -zar change the spelling of the first
person singular (‘yo’ form) in the preterite to -cé in order to maintain
the same sound as the infinitive. The rest of the verb follows the
regular pattern.

E.g comenzar – to begin

Yo comencé el examen a las ocho de la mañana.

almorzar – to have lunch lanzar – to throw

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 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (ii)

d. The verbs ser and ir share the same stem in the preterite tense.
Their forms are thus IDENTICAL, so the meaning must be
inferred/understood from the context.

E.g Anteayer , fui a la playa con mi familia.

Ser – to be Ir – to go

fui fuimos fui fuimos

fuiste fuiste

fue fueron fue fueron

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 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (iii)

e. Theverb hacer has a spelling change from c to z in the third person

singular(he/she/it) form only.

E.g Ayer en el gimnasio , Alberto hizo ejercicio.

Hacer- to do/make

hice hicimos

hiciste

hizo hicieron
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 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (iv)
“Los Pretéritos Graves”
a. In the Preterite Tense , some verbs have a different stem and a slightly different
set of endings. We refer to them as “pretéritos graves”
VERB NEW STEM
venir vin
SPECIAL ENDINGS
poner pus
saber sup (yo) -e -imos (nosotros)
(tu) -iste
estar estuv
(el/ella/usted) -o -ieron (ellos/ellas/ustedes)
Tener tuv
poder pud
querer quis

E.g poner la mesa – to set the table

** antes de + infinitive Anoche antes de cenar, puse la mesa.
Before doing something
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Cenar – to have dinner

 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (iv)

VERB NEW STEM SPECIAL ENDINGS

Traer traj
conducir conduj -e -imos
producir produj -iste
traducir traduj -o -eron
decir dij

Eg. conducir por primera vez – to drive for the first time
Ayer , Carlotta y Carlos condujeron por primera vez.
Ayer , conduje por primera vez.
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 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (v)

Stem-changing -ir Verbs

VERY IMPORTANT:
● Verbs ending in -ir that undergo stem changes in the present

tense also undergo stem changes in the preterite. In the preterite

tense, these verbs have a stem change in the (él , ella ,usted) and
the (ellos, ellas, ustedes) forms of the verb - the irregularites of
these verbs only occur in these forms.
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 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (v)

These changes in the Preterite fall into two types:

• e to i, as in the verbs

sentir (to feel) and pedir (to ask for)

pedir – to ask for

pedí pedimos

pediste

pidió pidieron
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 The Preterite Tense – Irregularities (v)

• o to u, as in the verbs

dormir (to sleep) and morir (to die)

dormí dormimos

dormiste
durmió durmieron
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 1. Verbs ending with “-guar”

Verbs ending with “-guar” , in the Preterite Tense , in the first person
singular form ONLY ,two dots “ . . “ are placed over the u. These two
dots are called a “diaeresis.” They just indicate that the “u” must be
pronounced in the word.

Example : averiguar – to discover/figure out

-el acertijo
Ayer , yo averigüé el acertijo. -the riddle
Yesterday , I figured out the riddle.
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More Information on the Diaresis : - || https://www.lawlessspanish.com/pronunciation/dieresis/

 Remember that the
2. Stem Changes stem is what remains
after removing the
ending of the verb
If the stem of an “-er” or an “-ir” verb ends in a vowel , from the infinitive.
you need to change the ending for the“third person
singular and plural” in the Preterite Tense.

The ‘i’ changes to ‘y’

Example :
leer-to read construir-to construct
yo leí nosotros leímos yo construí nosotros construimos
tú leíste tú construiste

él leyó él leyeron él construyeron

él construyó
ella leyó ella leyeron ella construyeron
ella construyó
usted leyó usted leyeron usted construyeron
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usted construyó

Anoche , Marco y Carla leyeron una novela de misterio. Hace dos meses , Pepe construyó una casa.
 Remember that the
3. sonreír | reír | freír stem is what remains
after removing the
ending of the verb
These verbs lose the ‘e’ in the stem when conjugating from the infinitive.
them in the“third person singular and plural ONLY”
in the Preterite Tense.

Example :

reír -to laugh

yo reí nosotros reímos
tú reíste

Change noted here where

él rió él rieron the regular endings in the
ella rió ella rieron Preterite for “-ir” verbs were
usted rió usted rieron added directly to the “r”.
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 Variations of “dar”:
4. dar
*dar de comer a – to feed

This verb and its variations *darse cuenta de - to realise

are irregular in the Preterite Tense. *darse – to give up

**Pay attention : There are reflexive

verbs!

dar – to give
yo di nosotros dimos
tú diste

él dio él dieron
ella dio ella dieron Examples :
usted dio usted dieron
1. Esta mañana, mi hermanito dio de comer a los pollos.
Reflexive Pronoun
that agrees with “yo”
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2. Ayer, yo me di cuenta de que el semestre comienza la

semana entrante.
El Fin
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