SPN 102: Preterite Tense

Spanish Language Grammar: Verb Tenses
Preterite Tense (Indicative Mood)

Indicative Mood: Expresses facts, and actual situations: Ejemplo: Trabajé en Walmart dos años.
The preterite tense is used to indicate activities finished in the past. To form regular verbs in the preterite add the following endings for –ar, -er, and –ir verbs. Note that the nosotros form is identical in the preterite and present tenses for –ar verbs.

ar (hablar) er (comer) ir (vivir)
(I spoke, etc) (I ate, etc) (I lived, etc)
Yo hablé comí viví
Tú hablaste comiste vivíste
El,Ella, Ud. habló comió vivió
Nosotros hablamos comimos vivimos
Vosotros hablasteis comisteis vivisteis
Ellos/as,Uds. hablaron comieron vivieron

Note: Most stem-changing verbs change only in the present tense (not in the preterite), e.g. Yo cuento (I count); yo conté (I counted).
Before working with the preterite, it is important to be familiar with the more common preterite “markers”, or words or phrases that indicate specific time frames.
Ayer (yesterday); anoche (last night), esta mañana (this morning), esta tarde (this afternoon), la semana pasada (last week), el mes pasado (año) pasado, hace________ (_______ ago), ayer por la mañana (yesterday morning).

When to use the different endings for the preterite?
A. To indicate activities finished in the past with regular verbs.
Ejercicio 1. Translate into Spanish.
1.I ate a salad last night. 2. My brother sold his house last month. 3. Did you study this morning? 4. Did she write her paper (trabajo)? 5. They drank three bottles of beer.

B. Ortographic changes in regular verbs: There are three standard ortographic (spelling) changes in Spanish which affect verbs in the preterite as well as in other tenses. In the preterite, these changes occur only in the first person singular yo form. They are as follows:
1 verbs ending in –gar: insert a u before the e: yo llegué (I arrived)
2 verbs ending in –car: the c changes to qu before the letter e: yo practiqué (I practiced)
3 verbs ending in –zar: the z changes to c before the letter e: yo empecé (I began)
Some frequently used verbs in these categories, with the preterite yo form:
llegar (to arrive), yo llegué; jugar (to play), yo jugué; pagar (to pay), yo pagué
buscar (to look for), yo busqué, clarificar (to clasiffy), yo clasifiqué, tocar (to play an instrument), yo toqué, sacar (to take out, to take pictures), yo saqué
autorizar (to authorize), yo autoricé, comenzar (to commence), yo comencé, organizar (to organize), yo organicé
Ejercicio 2. Translate into Spanish.
1 I arrived late to class this morning. 2. I began to dance on the table. 3. I played tennis yesterday. 4. I played the piano last night. 5. I took many pictures in the party.

C. Irregular Verbs in the Preterite
The following verbs all take these set of endings: -e, -iste, -o; -imos, -isteis, -ieron
1 andar to walk anduv- anduve, anduviste, anduvo…
2 estar to be estuv- estuve, estuviste, estuvo…
3 tener to have tuv- tuve, tuviste, tuvo…
4 caber to fit cup- cupe, cupiste, cupo…
5 haber auxiliary to have hub- hube, hubiste, hubo…
6 poder to be able to pud- pude, pudiste, pudo…
7 poner to put pus- puse, pusiste, puso…
8 saber to know sup- supe, supiste, supo…
9 hacer to make, do hic- hice, hiciste, hizo…
10 querer to want quis- quise, quisiste, quiso
11 venir to come vin- vine, viniste, vino…

Ejercicio 3. Translate into Spanish.
1 When did you know (find out) about the answer? 2 What did you do last night? 3 Last night I couldn’t sleep. 4 He came to my party. 5. They had an accident last week.

D. Ser and Ir. The preterite conjugations of ser and ir are identical. Ir is more used than ser in the preterite.
Ser (I was, you were, etc.): fui, fuiste, fue; fuimos, fuisteis, fueron
Ir (I went, you went, etc.): fui, fuiste, fue; fuimos, fuisteis, fueron
Ejercicio 4. Translate into Spanish.
1 How was the party? 2. It was a success (éxito) 3. We didn’t go to the wedding. 4. Did you go to school today? 5. They went separately (por separado).

E. Decir and Traer. Decir (to say, tell) and traer (to bring) are conjugated as follows:
Decir (I said/told, you said/told, etc.): dije, dijiste, dijo; dijimos, dijisteis, dijeron
Traer (I brought, you brought, etc): traje, trajiste, trajo; trajimos, trajisteis, trajeron
Verbs related to, and cojugated in the same manner as traer: atraer (to attract): atraje, etc; distraer (to distract): distraje, etc; retraer (to bring back, to dissuade): retraje, etc.
Ejercicio 5. Translate into Spanish.
1 I told the children my name. 2. His voice attracted me. 3. The TV distracted me. What did you tell her? 5. What did you bring us?


F. Dar and Ver. The verbs dar and ver are very similar in their preterite conjugations and thus easy to learn together. While dar is clearly irregular, ver is irregular only in that the accent marks on the first and third person singular are omitted. Their conjugations are as follows.
Dar (I gave, you gave, etc.): di, diste, dio; dimos, disteis, dieron
Ver (I saw, you saw, etc.): vi, viste, vio; vimos, visteis, vieron
Ejercicio 6. Translate into Spanish.
1 I gave Alberto a package yesterday. 2. She gave me a book. 3. When she saw him, she gave him a kiss. 4. I didn’t see the present my brother gave to my grandmother. 5. I saw Alberto last week.

G. –Ir stem-changing verbs: Most stem-changing verbs change only in the present. However, -ir stem-changing verbs make minor modifications in the preterite. There three kinds of these verbs thatmake changes only in the third person singular and plural.
In o→ue verbs in the present, the o changes to u in the preterite (verbs: dormir, morir)
Dormir (to sleep): dormí, dormiste, durmió; dormimos, dormisteis, durmieron
In e→ie verbs in the present, the e changes to i in the preteritte (verbs: mentir, advertir, sentir(se), preferir)
Mentir (to lie): mentí, mentiste, mintió; mentimos, mentisteis, mintieron
In e→i verbs in the present, the e changes to i in the preterite (verbs: medir, pedir, repetir, seguir, servir)
Pedir (to request, to ask for): pedi, pediste, pidió; pedimos, pedisteis, pidieron
Ejercicio 7. Translate into Spanish.
1 She slept for ten hours. 2. He requested more coffee. 3. Our lawyers warned us of the danger (peligro). 4. Did they repeat the instructions? 5. The cockroaches died.

H. Verbs that change i→y in the preterite: In those –er and –ir verbs in which a vowel immediately precedes the infinitive ending, the third person singular and plural change from i to y. In all other forms there is a written accent over the letter i. (verbs: caer (to fall), caerse (fall down), creer, leer, oír, poseer, proveer)
Creer (to believe): creí, creíste, creyó; creímos, creísteis, creyeron
Exceptions: (a) traer: see above; (b) verbs ending in –guir (e.g. seguir) the u is not pronounced: seguí, seguiste, siguió; seguimos, seguisteis, siguieron.
(c) Verbs ending in –uir (e.g. destruir) make the change from i→y; however, the written accent over the i appears only in the first person singular form. (verbs: construir (to build, construct), contribuir (to contribute), fluir (to flow, run), huir, incluir (to include), influir (to influence)).
Destruir (to destroy): destruí, destruiste, destruyó; destruimos, destruisteis, destruyeron
Ejercicio 8. Translate into Spanish.
1 The teacher didn’t hear me. 2. They read the article twice. 3. He ran away on Tuesday. 4. My parents did not believe the story. 5. MLK influenced a generation.

J. Verbs ending in –ucir: All verbs ending in –ucir have the same conjugations as producir. (verbs: conducir (to drive, lead), deducir, inducir (to induce, lead), introducir, producir, reducir, traducir)
Producir (to produce): produje, produjiste, produjo; produjimos, produjisteis, produjeron
Ejercicio 9. Translate into Spanish.
1.I produced as good paper. 2. You translated the text very well. 3. Did you drive in the snow? 4. She led a nice discussion. 5. I deduced the message of the story.

K. Verbs that change meaning in the preterite:
Conocer: Present: to know a person, place Preterite: to meet: Conocí a Jaime hace diez años.
Poder: Present: to be able (to do something) Preterite: to manage (to do sthg): Ella pudo hablar con el.
No poder: not to be able (to do something) to fail (to do sthg): No pudimos encontrarla.
Querer: to want to try: Quise amar pero no funcionó.
No querer: not to want to refuse: Nosotros no quisimos comer.
Saber: to know (a fact, information) to find out (learn): ¿Cuándo supiste la respuesta?
Sentir: to feel to regret, to be sorry: Sentí la muerte de su hijo.
Tener: to have to have (at a certain time). Sandra tuvo una bebé anoche.
Ejercicio 10. Translate into Spanish.
1. He failed to see my persective. 2. Why did you refuse to talk with her? 3. I managed to pay my bills on time. 4. I tried going but..5. I was sorry about your loss (pérdida)