El Pretérito

1. El Pretérito

2. The preterite tense is used to talk about COMPLETED ACTIONS IN THE PAST in a SPECIFIC TIME FRAME. • Examples: • I ate an apple. • Did I finish eating the apple? • YES, therefore it is preterite. • He studied for the test. • Did he finish studying? • YES, therefore it is preterite. (There is nothing to suggest that he didn’t finish studying.) • I was studying. • Did I finish studying? • We don’t know. We know it’s in the past, but we don’t if the action is finished. This is NOT preterite.

3. One more (a bit more tricky….) • My friend was studying when I called him. • There are TWO verbs here: “was studying” and “called”. • Are they: • A) both preterite • B) only “was studying” is preterite • C) only “called” is preterite • The answer is C!!! The first verb, “was studying” was not completed. It was interrupted by “called”. • Remember!! A preterite is an action we know is COMPLETED in the past!

4. Some practice…. • Which of the following are examples of a preterite verb? • 1. I eat fish every day. • NO…This is present tense • 2. He played soccer yesterday. • YES…He COMPLETED the action of playing soccer. • 3. I was talking on the phone when my brother entered into the room. • NO and YES “was talking on the phone” is an INTERRUPTED action in the past. “entered” is a COMPLETED action • 4. I dropped the book when my friend scared me. • YES and YES “dropped” is a COMPLETED action“scared” is a COMPLETED action

5. Verb Wall Subject Pronouns

6. How to form the preterite in Spanish (regular verbs) -AR -ER -IR hablARcomERvivIR yo tú él,ella, Ud. nosotros vosotros ellos, ellas, Uds. hablé hablaste habló hablamos hablasteis hablaron comí comiste comió comimos comisteis comieron viví viviste vivió vivimos vivisteis vivieron SAME ENDINGS!!

7. -AR hablAR hablé hablaste habló hablamos hablasteis hablaron yo tú él,ella, Ud. nosotros vosotros ellos, ellas, Uds.

8. -ER comER comí comiste comió comimos comisteis comieron yo tú él,ella, Ud. nosotros vosotros ellos, ellas, Uds.

9. -IR viviR viví viviste vivió vivimos vivisteis vivieron yo tú él,ella, Ud. nosotros vosotros ellos, ellas, Uds.

10. With the preterite, you don’t incorporate all of the present tense stem-changes. There are no “boot verbs” in the preterite. VerboPresentePretérito dormir(yo)duermodormí acostarse(tú)teacuestasteacostaste volver(él)vuelvevolvió Pensar (ellos) piensanpensaron Ejemplo: Normalmenteme acuestoa las 10, peroanocheme acosté a medianoche.

11. To put a reflexive verb in the past tense, just conjugate the verb into the preterite and put the reflexive pronoun where it should go according to the sentence structure. VerboPresentePretérito Bañarse(yo) me baño me bañé ducharse(tú)teduchasteduchaste Ejemplo:Anoche, mishijostuvieronque (had to) bañarse.

12. -car,-gar and –zar verbs have the same spelling changes in the yo form that you used for negative tu commands (except no “s”) -gar—gué -car—qué -zar—cé Pagar Yo pagué $5.00 para comer el almuerzo. ¿Cuánto pagaste tú? Sacar Mi hermano no sacó la basura, así que yo la saqué. Comenzar Mis amigos no comenzaron la tarea, pero yo sí la comencé.

13. Some practice…. comer (tú): comiste

14. Some practice…. bailar (yo): bailé

15. Some practice…. cantar (nosotros): cantamos

16. Some practice…. cubrir (vosotros): cubristeis

17. Some practice…. escapar (él): escapó

18. Some practice…. secar(tú): secaste

19. Some practice…. buscar(yo): How do you pronounce “ce” in Spanish as in cenar? busqué

20. Some practice…. pagar (ella): pagó

21. Some practice…. pagar(yo): How do you pronounce “ge” in Spanish as in gente? pagué

22. Some practice…. empezar (ellos): empezaron

23. Some practice…. cruzar (yo): Is “z” allowed before an “e”? How is zero spelled in Spanish? crucé

24. Some practice…. limpiar (yo): limpié

25. Some practice…. escuchar (tú): escuchaste

26. A couple of irregulars that you’ll use a lot…. • IR • (to go) • fui • fuiste • fue • fuimos • fuisteis • fueron • HACER • (to make/do) • hice • hiciste • hizo • hicimos • hicisteis • hicieron yo tú él,ella, Ud. nosotros vosotros ellos, ellas, Uds.

27. Some more practice…. • hacer (tú): • irse (yo): • asistir (nosotros): • ir (vosotros): • entregar (yo): • ir:(ellos): • hacer (yo y tú): • hacer (ellas): • pegar (él): • hacer (tú): hiciste me fui asistimos fuisteis entregué fueron hicimos hicieron pegó hiciste

28. Here are some words that will clue you in that you are dealing with a preterite tense verb. ayeryesterdayayer por la mañanayesterday morningayer por la tardeyesterday afternoonanteayerthe day before yesterdayanochelast nightdesde el primer momentofrom the first moment en ese momentoat that momententoncesthenesta mañanathis morningesta tardethis afternoonhace dos días, añostwo days, years agola semana pasadalast week despuésafterwardsdurante dos siglosfor two centuriesel año pasadolast yearel lunes por la nocheMonday nightel mes pasadolast monthel otro díathe other day

29. La canción del pretérito • “-é” con acento, “-aste”, “-ó”, • “-ó” has an accent too you know, • “-amos” is the same as the present tense, • “-asteis” and “-aron” just make sense. • pretérito –ar, pretérito –ar, pretérito –ar, • and that’s the way it goes!

30. “-í” con acento, “-iste”, “-ió”, • “-ó” has an accent too you know, • “-imos” is close to the present tense, • “-isteis” and “-ieron” just make sense. • Pretérito –ir, Pretérito -er, Pretérito -ir, • And that’s the way it goes ¡Olé! • “isteis” and “ieron” just make sense. • Canción, -ir, canción –er, canción –-ir, • and that’s the way it goes!