The Preterite Irregulars

Present tense –ir stem-changers (boot verbs) also have a stem- change in the preterite tense. The change is a little different. In the preterite they are called the “Sandal Verbs”

dormir dormimos dormís duermen duermo duermes duerme  dormir dormimos dormisteis durmieron dormí dormiste durmió  Every stem-changing (shoe) verb in the present tense ue u Type 1 “Sandal” verbs The preterit stem changes occur only in the third persons. o  ue o  u that is also an -ir verb is a “sandal” verb in the preterit.

Type 1: o  ue, o  u Juan durmió seis horas anoche, y sus hermanos durmieron ocho. dormir Juan slept six hours last night, and his brothers slept eight. Alicia murió dos años después de que murieron sus padres. morir Alicia died two years after her parents died.

mentir mentimos mentís mienten miento mientes miente  mentir mentimos mentisteis mintieron mentí mentiste mintió  ie i Type 2 “Sandal” verbs The preterit stem changes occur only in the third persons. e  ie e  i Every stem-changing (shoe) verb in the present tense that is also an -ir verb is a “sandal” verb in the preterit.

Type 2: e  ie, e  i Eduardo mintió acerca del robo, pero sus cómplices no mintieron. mentir Eduardo lied about the theft, but his accomplices didn’t lie. Marlena sintió alegría cuando ganó el premio, y sus padres sintieron mucho orgullo. sentir Marlena felt joy when she won the award, and her parents felt great pride.

dormir(ue,u) – to sleep dormí dormiste durmió dormimos dormisteis durmieron Ella no durmió bien anoche. She did not sleep well last night. The “o” changes to “u” in the 3 rd persons only.

When you look up stem- changing verbs in the dictionary, for example: dormir (ue,u) present tense “boot” stem-change / preterite tense “sandal” stem-change

dormir (ue,u) The “ue” refers to the stem-change in the present tense. duermo duermes duerme dormimos dormís duermen Remember the forms that have the stem-change in the present tense form the boot shape. These are the “boot verbs”. ¿Duermes mucho? Do you sleep a lot?

dormir (ue,u) The “u” refers to the stem-change in the preterite tense. dormí dormiste durmió dormimos dormisteis durmieron The forms that have the stem-change in the preterite tense form more of a “sandal” shape. These are the “sandal verbs”.

REMEMBER!! Present Tense – Boot Verbs / Preterite Tense – Sandal Verbs dormir (ue, u) pedir (i, i) preferir (ie, i) mentir (ie, i) repetir (i, i) sentir (ie, i) preferir (ie, i) We have already learned the Boot Verbs when we learned the present tense. This lección, we are learning the Preterite Sandal Verbs.

pedir(i,i) – to request, ask for pedí pediste pidió pedimos pedisteis pidieron Ud. pidió la ensalada. You ordered the salad. The “e” changes to “i” in the 3 rd persons only.

preferir (ie, i) – to prefer preferí preferiste prefirió preferimos preferisteis prefirieron Uds. prefirieron español. You prefered Spanish. The “e” changes to “i” in the 3 rd persons only.

Just follow the same pattern for any other –ir stem- changers you come upon. Just look for the second vowel after the infinitive: sentir(ie,i) By the way, there are only –ir sandal verbs. -ar or –er verbs do not stem change in the preterite.

–er and –ir verbs -yó / -yeron verbs

leíste leímos leísteis leiero n leí leióyó yero n Verbs that change the “i” to “y” in the third- persons singular and plural Example: leer Notice that every form except third-person plural bears a written accent.

The “i” to “y” change applies only to -er and -ir verbs whose stem ends in a vowel leer creer leyóleyeron creyócreyeron oír oyóoyóoyeron

leer – to read leí leíste leyó leímos leísteis leyeron Leí seis libros para la clase de ingles. I read six books for English class. * “y” replaces the “i” in the 3 rd persons. * leyeron is the only form without an accent.

oír – to hear oí oíste oyó oímos oísteis oyeron ¿No oíste la fecha del examen? Didn’t you hear the date of the test? * “y” replaces the “i” in the 3 rd persons. * oyeron is the only form without an accent.

The irregular preterite verbs

estar – to be estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvisteis estuvieron Estuve en casa ayer. I was at home yesterday. * This verb contains “uv” * There are no accents.

tener – to have tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvisteis tuvieron Tuve que trabajar ayer. I had to work yesterday. * This verb contains “uv” similiar to the preterite conjugation of estar: estuve, estuviste, etc. * There are no accents.

decir – to say, tell dije dijiste dijo dijimos dijisteis dijeron Mis padres dijeron que no. My parents said no. * The “c” is replaced by a “j”. * The 3 rd person form is –eron. * There are no accents.

hacer – to do, make hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicisteis hicieron Juan no hizo su tarea. Juan didn’t do his homework. * The “c” is replaced by a “z” in the 3 rd person singular form to maintain the soft pronunciation. * There are no accents.

dar and ver – the irregular “fraternal twins” dar di diste dio dimos disteis dieron ver vi viste vio vimos visteis viereon No accents

ir and ser – the irregular “identical twins” 1. Yo fui (I went, was) __________________________ 2. Tú fuiste (you went,were) __________________________ 3. Él fue (he went, was) Ella fue (she went, was) Ud. fue (you went, polite were) fue (it is) “it” was implied 1. Nosotros fuimos (we went,were) Nosotras fuimos (we went, were fem.) ___________________________ 2. Vosotros fuisteis (you went, were) Vosotras fuisteis (you went, were fem.) ___________________________ 3. Ellos fueron (they went, were) Ellas fueron (they went, were fem.) Uds. fueron (you went, were plural)