2. The preterit of regular verbs
estudiar volver salir
(yo) estudi é volv í sal í
(tú) estudi aste volv iste sal iste
(usted, él, estudi ó volv ió sal ió
ella)
(nosotros/as) Estudi amos Volv imos Sal imos
(ustedes, estudi aron volv ieron Sal ieron
ellos, ellas)
We go through the same steps as when we conjugated the
present tense but now we are adding new endings.
3. Así se forma 3: The preterit of regular verbs
he preterit tense is used to talk about actions in the past we
view/perceive as complete,
--- Me levanté a las ocho y desayuné. I got up at eight and had
breakfast.
¿Cuándo volviste? —When did you return?
Volví a la una. —I returned at one o’clock.
-or past actions with a specific beginning, an end or both.
-Estudié en la biblioteca por dos horas. I studied at the library for two
hours.
-Comencé a estudiar a las tres. I began to study at three.
4. Verbs with spelling changes and ser/ir in the Preterite
Ser and ir have identical but irregular preterit endings.
Since the Preterite is used to express completed actions, it is very
difficult to conjugate Ser (Description & Existence) in the Preterite
past tense.
When you see these conjugations it is usually Ir. I won’t have the
Preterite form of Ser on the Final Exam.
ser
fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron
ir
Leer (to read) and oír (to hear) have spelling changes in
the 3rd person forms (i→y).
leer: leí, leíste, leyó, leímos, leyeron
oír: oí, oíste, oyó, oímos, oyeron
5. Verbos con cambios ortográficos en el pretérito: i-->y
Leer y oír
otra vez necesitan cambiar la “i”
en “y”
Arf!
No!
en las terceras personas: leio
leer: leí, leíste, leyó, leímos, leyeron
oír: oí, oíste, oyó, oímos, oyeron
Remember that the “I” is a weak poodle easily taken out by the stronger Alpha dog
vowels. When there are 3 vowels in a row and the center vowel is an “i”, it will convert
into the German Shepherd Dog “Y”.
6. Dar (to Give) en el pretérito
Dar es trasvestito:
Es verbo de –Ar,
pero lleva la ropa de los
verbos de –Er/-Ir!
Di
Diste
Dio
Dimos
Dieron
7. More Verbs with spelling changes in the preterite
Verbs ending in -gar, -car, and -zar change spelling only in the yo
form of the preterit.
jugar yo jugué, tú jugaste, …
-gar g→gu
llegar yo llegué, tú llegaste, …
-car tocar yo toqué, tú tocaste, …
c→qu
buscar yo busqué, tú buscaste, …
abrazar yo abracé, tú abrazaste, …
-zar z→c
almorzar yo almorcé, tú almorzaste, …
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