Spelling changes in the preterite

1. Spelling changes in the preterite i → y -car, -gar, -zar verbs

2. i → y • Verbs that have a vowel at the end of the stem have a spelling change in the preterite • Leer: leí, leíste, leyó (not leió), leímos, leísteis, leyeron (not leieron) • Construir: construí, construiste, construyó (not construió), construimos, construisteis, construyeron (not construieron) • Why?! --- i is a weak vowel and when it is next to an e, a, or u it blends in and sounds more like a y

3. Act. 4, p. 226 Escribir con compañero

4. ¿Cómo se dice…? …the él/ella form of “buscar” in the preterite? …the yo form of “buscar” in the preterite? How do you pronounce this word? buscé It’s a “soft” c. To make a “hard” c you must add qu. busqué

5. ¿Cómo se dice…? …the él/ella form of “pagar” in the preterite? …the yo form of “pagar” in the preterite? How do you pronounce this word? pagé It’s a “soft” g. To make a “hard” g you must add a u. pagué

6. ¿Cómo se dice…? …the él/ella form of “empezar” in the preterite? …the yo form of “empezar” in the preterite? How do you pronounce this word? empezé “ze” is not allowed in Spanish**, so it changes to… empecé **It has to do with the development from Latin; “z” is borrowed from Greek.

7. This change happens only in the yo form. -car → -qué -gar → -gué -zar → -cé

8. Think about English • Some words change spelling when in the past tense • You panic. (present) • You panicked. (past) • I commit. • I committed. • Look at page 227 for more information

9. ¡A trabajar! Página 228, actividad 5