PRETERITE

To express actions initiated or completed in the past. When talking about the beginning or end of an event(terminated action).

ar

yo = tú =

é aste

usted, él, ella =

ó

nosotros/as =

amos

vosotros/as =

asteis

ustedes, él, ella =

aron er/ir

yo =

í

nosotros/as =

imos

tú =

iste

vosotros/as =

isteis

usted, él, ella =

ió

ustedes , él, ella =

ieron

• • • • Accent mark in the

yo

The conjugation of

ver

and the

usted, él, ella

forms does not have an accent mark :

vi, vio …

Stem changing

ar

and

er

volver) verbs do not change in the preterite (pensar and

pensar:

pensé, pensaste, pensamos, pensasteis, pensaron

PRETERITE

• • • • Verbs ending in

car, gar

, and

zar

have spelling change in the

yo car

=

qu

sacar: sa

qué gar = gu

llegar: lle

gué zar = c

empezar: empe

cé

form.

• • Verb

dar

uses the endings of

er

and

ir

verbs

dar:

di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron • Some time expressions that can use with the preterite to denote past time: ayer; anteyer; anoche, anteanoche/antenoche; la semana pasada; el año pasado; el mes pasado • • Preterite of

er

and

ir

verbs whose stem ends in a vowel: are the same as those of regular

er

and

ir

verbs, except for the él, ella, usted form and the ellos, ellas, ustedes form which end in

yó

and

yeron.

leer: él, ella, usted (

leyó)

ellos, ellas, ustedes (

leyeron

) Other verbs:

oir, caer, creer, construir

PRETERITE

Irregular preterite forms. All of them have an

i

in the stem and do not stress the last syllable in the

yo

and

él, ella, usted

forms.

• • • hacer:

hic

querer:

quis

venir:

vin

hice, hiciste, hi

z

o, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron quise, quisiste, quiso, quisimos, quisisteis, quisieron vine, viniste, vino, vinimos, vinisteis, vinieron • • • Verbs

decir, traer,

and all verbs ending in

ducir

(

traducir)

have a

j

in the stem.

Decir

also have an

i

in the stem. decir:

dij

dije, dijiste, dijo, dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron traer:

traj

traducir:

traduj

traje, trajiste, trajo, trajimos, trajisteis, trajeron traduje, tradujiste, tradujo, tradujimos, tradujisteis, tradujeron

PRETERITE

•

ir

and

ser:

have identical forms in the preterite.

fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron • Stem changing

ir

verbs

e=ie

and

o=u preferir:

preferí ,preferiste, prefirió , preferimos, preferisteis, prefirieron

dormir:

dormí, dormiste, durmió, dormimos, dormisteis, durmieron • • • • Preterite ending of stem changing

ir

regular

ir

verbs. verbs are the same as those used for All

ir

verbs whose stem vowel

e

changes to

ie

or

i

in the present tense change the same vowel to

i

in the

él, ella, usted

form and the

ellos, ellas, ustedes

form. Other verbs which follow the

preferir

pattern are

pedir, despedir, seguir,

and

servir

.

Dormir

and

morir

(to die) whose stem vowel

o

changes to

ue

in the present tense, change the same vowel to

u

in the

él, ella, usted

form and the

ellos, ellas, ustedes

form.

PRETERITE

• The following irregular verbs have a

u

in the preterite stem. The

yo

and

él, ella, usted

forms do not stress the last syllable. estar:

estuv

estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvisteis, estuvieron tener:

tuv

tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron poder:

pud

pude, pudiste, pudo, pudimos, pudisteis, pudieron poner:

pus

saber:

sup

puse, pusiste, puso, pusimos, pusisteis, pusieron supe, supiste, supo, supimos, supisteis, supieron

IMPERFECT

• • • • • • • Talk about the middle or on-going part of an event or customary or habitual actions in the past.

Not perfected or completed in the past.

Something that was happening; you used to do; say how old someone was; tell what time it was.

Explain what used to happen- (on going) Repeated action in the past: Nosotros ibamos a la playa todos los dias.

Express action that was in progress in the past: En esos momentos Juan hablaba con su hermana.

Imperfect of estar + present participle (ando/iendo) to emphasize on- going activity: En esos momentos Juan estaba hablando con su hermana.

IMPERFECT

• • • • Describe characteristics and conditions in the past.

La casa era blanca, con techo rojo, y tenia dos dormitorios.

Tell time in the past.

Era la una.

Tell age in the past.

Ella tenia dieciocho anos.

Apply both tense to talk about two overlapping events.

Preterite:

for action that occurred.

Imperfect:

for what was going on at the time.

Expressions

used with

imperfect:

mientras; a veces; siempre; generalmente; frecuentemente

IMPERFECT

ar

yo =

aba

tú =

abas

usted, él, ella =

aba

nosotros/as

= abamos

vosotros/as =

ábais

ustedes, él, ella =

aban er/ir

yo =

ía

nosotros/as =

íamos

tú =

ías

vosotros/as =

íais

usted, él, ella =

ía

ustedes , él, ella =

ían

• • Endings for

er

and

ir

verbs are the same and every verb form has an accent mark over the

í

of the ending.

Stem changing verbs do not change in the imperfect.

Ella no duerme bien ahora, pero antes dorm

ía

muy bien.

IMPERFECT

• Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect.

ir:

iba,ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban

ser:

era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran

ver:

veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían • Imperfect form of

hay

is

había

(there was, there were, there used to be