The preterit of hacer, tener, estar, poder

Question 1

What is the preterit?

Answer 1

It’s a past tense. Use it when you want to send the massage that the action of the verb occured at a specific point in time in the past.

For example, I walked to school yesterday.

Question 2

Why are these verbs called irregular?

Answer 2

Hacer, tener, estar, and poder belong to a group of irregular verb. They are grouped together because their root and conjugations are irregular in the preterit tense.

Question 3

What is the preterit root for: hacer, tener, estar, poder?

Answer 3

hace > hic

tener > tuv

estar > estuv

poder > pud

Question 4

What are the irregular preterit conjugations for

hacer, tener, estar, poder?

Answer 4

Even though these verbs have different infinitives (verb endings), they all use the same irregular preterit endings:

yo > -e

tú > -iste

ud., él, ella > -o

nosotros, nosotras > -imos

uds., ellos, ellas > -ieron

Question 5

What is the preterit conjugation for hacer?

Answer 5

yo hice

tú hiciste

usted, él, ella hizo

nosotros, nosotras hicimos

ustedes, ellos, ellas hicieron

Question 6

What is the preterit conjugation for tener?

Answer 6

yo tuve

tú tuviste

usted, él, ella tuvo

nosotros, nosotras tuvimos

ustedes, ellos, ellas tuvieron

Question 7

What is the preterit conjugation for estar?

Answer 7

yo estuve

tú estuviste

usted, él, ella estuvo

nosotros, nosotras estuvimos

ustedes, ellos, ellas estuvieron

Question 8

What is the preterit conjugation of poder?

Answer 8

yo pude

tú pudiste

usted, él, ella pudo

nosotros, nosotras pudimos

ustedes, ellos, ellas pudieron