Irregular Preterite Tense The Triangle Verbs

What are Triangle Verbs The triangle verbs are a set of irregular verbs that all share the same set of endings. The most common of these verbs are Tener — Poner — Saber Estar — venir — Querer Poder — decir Hacer — traer

The Endings imos iste isteis ieron I use a triangle to help me remember the endings. The areas the triangle touches are identical to regular –er/-ir preterite tense endings. imos iste isteis ieron

The other endings e imos iste isteis o ieron The other two endings I remember are just like the –ar preterite tense endings but without accents. e imos iste isteis o ieron

The Stems Every triangle verb—in other words, all the verbs that use these endings—has an irregular stem. This means you will not be able to simply take the –ar, -er, and –ir off as you have done in the past. YOU MUST MEMORIZE THE STEM AS WELL AS THE ENDINGS.

These are the Stems Tener  tuv Poner  pus Saber  sup Estar  estuv Venir vin Querer  quis Poder  pud Decir  dij Hacer  hic/z Traer  traj

Putting it all together The endings The conjugation process e imos iste o ieron First choose the verb that communicates the meaning you want Select the irregular stem for that verb. Add the ending that matches the doer of the action.

Let’s conjugate poder to say “he could.” imos iste ieron First, write the stem for poder PUD Second, add the he/she/usted ending from the irregular set of endings. O o

The process is the same with other triangle verbs To conjugate hacer to “we made” we would write the irregular stem. And then add the we form ending. e iste o ieron imos Hic imos

Two Special Rules The verb hacer uses the irregular stem “HIC.” The he/she/Ud. ending is an “O.” Because the “C” will change pronunciation when followed by “O,” we change the “C” to a “Z.” HIZO Stems that end in “J” such as “traj” and “dij” will drop the “I” in the ellos/Uds. form. If the stem ends in “j” drop the “i” in they. TRAJERON DIJERON

All that is left is to memorize You should memorize this using the method that works best for you. If you like rules, follow the ones in this presentation. If you prefer to simply memorize, take some time and write out the conjugations and study them until they are automatic.