Preterite Tense Flashcards
Spanish Preterite Tense
When do you use the Preterite Tense?
Single, completed actions in the past (Yesterday, I went to the cinema)
Regular Preterite -ar verb endings
I spoke
-é -aste -ó -amos -asteis -aron
hablé
Regular -er verb endings in the preterite tense
You ran
-í -iste -ió -imos -isteis -ieron
corriste
Regular -ir verb endings in the preterite tense
They opened
-í -iste -ió -imos -isteis -ieron
abrieron
Which stem-changing verbs take stem changes in the Preterite? (And in which parts?)
He played
He asked for
- Only -ir stem-changing verbs (not -ar / -er verbs) - Stem change only occurs in (él/ella/usted) and (ellos/ellas/ustedes)
Él jugó (jugar doesn´t change to ue in preterite)
Él pidió (pedir changes to i in preterite 3rd person singular and plural)
IR Stem-changing verbs in Preterite.
He slept
He prefered
ue verbs change to u in preterite
ie verbs change to i in preterite
Él durmió
Él prefirió
pedir (stem-changing preterite tense) - to ask for
I asked for
pedí pediste pidió pedimos pedisteis pidieron
(the e only changes to i in the third person)
Pedí
morir (stem-changing verb in the preterite tense) - to die
They died
morí moriste murió morimos murieron
(o changes to u only in third person)
murieron
-car verbs in preterite have irregular ‘yo’ forms - tocar (to play an instrument)
I touched
toqué tocaste tocó tocamos tocasteis tocaron
toqué
-gar verbs have irregular preterite ‘yo’ forms - jugar (to play a sport)
I played
jugué jugaste jugó jugamos jugastéis jugaron
jugué
-zar verbs in preterite have iregular ‘yo’ forms - empezar (to begin)
I began
empecé empezaste empezó empezamos empezaron
empecé
andar (irregular preterite) - to walk/ stroll
I walked/ strolled.
anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvisteis anduvieron
anduve
estar (irregular preterite) - to be
You were
estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvisteis estuvieron
estuviste
(irregular preterite) - to do
He did
hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicisteis hicieron
hizo
(irregular preterite) - to be able to
We could/ We were able to
pude pudiste pudo pudimos pudisteis pudieron
pudimos
