1. THE PRETERITE TENSE A simple past tense in Spanish

2. What is the preterite tense?

3. The preterite is a simple past tense in Spanish. It is used for:

4. An action completed in the past Ayer le escribí una carta a mi mamá. Yesterday I wrote a letter to my mom.

5. An action viewed as a single event in the past Ellos llegaron a las ocho. They arrived at 8:00.

6. Actions that were repeated a specific number of times Anteayer llamé a mi novio tres veces. The day before yesterday I called my boyfriend three times.

7. Actions that occurred during a specific period of time Nosotros trabajamos en la librería por dos años. We worked at the library for two years.

8. Actions that were a part of a chain of events Ella se levantó, se vistió, y salió de la casa. She got up, got dressed, and left the house.

9. Stating the beginning or end of an action. Empezó a nevar a las cuatro de la tarde. It began to snow at 4:00 p.m.

10. How is the preterite formed?

17. Verbs that end with –CAR, -GAR & -ZAR will take spelling changes in the ‘YO’ form!!

21. - AR and - ER verbs that change their stem in the present tense do not change in the preterite. They are conjugated just like other regular preterite verbs.

29. El Fin