The preterite tense

When it's used The preterite is used for actions that can be viewed as single events that occurred in the past. Ella caminó por el parque. She walked through the park. Ellos llegaron a las ocho. They arrived at eight o'clock.

When it's used The preterite is used for actions that were repeated a specific number of times, or occurred during a specific period of time. Ayer escribí tres cartas. Yesterday I wrote three letters. Vivimos allí por cuatro años. We lived there for four years.

When it's used The preterite is used for actions that were part of a chain of events. Ella se levantó, se vistió, y salió de la casa. She got up, dressed, and left the house.

When it's used The preterite is used to state the beginning or the end of an action. Empezó a nevar a las ocho de la mañana. It began to snow at eight in the morning.

General rule for using the preterite: The preterite is used for past actions that are seen as completed.

How to form it To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following: é aste óaron amoshabl

BonusInfo There are no stem-changing –ar verbs in the preterite! But, don’t get your hopes up too high. There are spelling changers or orthographic changers.

-car, -gar, -zar In order to preserve the sound of the infinitive, a number of verbs change orthographically (spelling) in the preterite tense. The following changes occur in the "yo" form only: Verbs that end in -gar change g to gu Verbs that end in -car change c to qu Verbs that end in -zar change z to c yo jugué (jugar) yo busqué (buscar) yo almorcé (almorzar)

When it's used (repaso) The preterite is used for actions that can be viewed as single events that occurred in the past. The preterite is used for actions that were repeated a specific number of times, or occurred during a specific period of time. The preterite is used for actions that were part of a chain of events. The preterite is used to state the beginning or the end of an action.

How to form it To conjugate regular –er/ir verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-er/ir) and add one of the following: í iste ióieron imoscom viv

Stemchanges -ar and -er verbs that change their stem in the present tense do not change in the preterite. They are conjugated just like other regular preterite verbs. -ir verbs that change their stem in the present tense do change in the preterite, but in a different way. They change e:i and o:u in the third person, singular and plural. These are sometimes called “Sandal verbs”

Present preferir prefiero prefieres prefiere preferimos preferís prefieren Preterite preferir preferí preferiste prefirió preferimos preferisteis prefirieron Present dormir duermo duermes duerme dormimos dormís duermen Preterite dormir dormí dormiste durmió dormimos dormisteis durmieron preferí dormí dormiste durmió dormimos durmieron preferiste prefirió preferimos prefirieron

Orthographic changes For verbs that end in -aer, -eer, -oír, and -oer, the él/ella/usted forms use the ending "yó" (rather than ió) and the third person plural uses the ending "yeron" (rather than ieron). The remaining forms gain a written accent over the letter "i."

Orthographic changes leer leí leíste leyó leímos leísteis leyeron Other verbs like leer include: Caer (fall (down etc.; also caerse) creer oír (hear) poseer(have; own, possess) proveer (provide, supply) roer (gnaw; nibble) Exceptions to this rule include: traer atraer (attract; draw ) distraer (distract, divert, lead someone away (de from))

Orthographic changes Verbs that end in -uir change in the same way, but the written accent over the letter "i" only occurs in the yo form. huir huí huiste huyó huimos huisteis huyeron Other verbs like huir include: construir contribuir destruir fluir incluir influir

These four verbs are irregular; you must memorize them: Ser/Ir fui fuiste fue fuimos fuisteis fueron dar di diste dio dimos disteis dieron hacer hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicisteis hicieron