1. Preterite Rap
Ms Davis

2. I said P.R.E. and T.E.R and the rest is I.T.E.
We’re gonna learn our preterite verbs, while you sit there looking at me.
Now I’m gonna start out with the regular verbs that have patterns we understand.
First up on the line is the “AR” group, c’mon and give me a hand.

3. Yo goes “é”
Tú goes “aste”
Él and Ella go “ó”
Watch out for the accents on the end, they’re important so you know.
Nosotros goes “amos”
Vosotros goes “asteis”
Ellos goes A.R.O.N
There you show, that’s the show for the AR verbs, c’mon let’s say ‘em again.
(repeat one time)

4. Listen here, comin up are ER and IR
Did you know that they work the same?
Shout ‘em out so you won’t get confused in the regular preterite game.
Yo goes “í”
Tú goes “iste”
Él gets “i” and an “ó”
The accents here matter just as much
Don’t forget ‘em so you know

5. Nosotros goes IMOS
Vosotros goes ISTEIS
Ellos I.E.R.O. and N.
In order to beat ‘em
You gotta repeat ‘em
‘til you know them from beginning to end.

6. Go Crazy! Go Crazy! Keep saying those verbs and don’t be lazy!

7. Now all of you have come real far…
But there’s spell change freaks for
-CAR, -GAR and –ZAR
It matters to me that you should know
They take a spell change, but only in “YO”
-CAR goes –QUÉ
To keep pronunciation sound of hard “C”
With –GAR we insert a “U”
To keep a hard “G” that’s what we gotta do!

8. The –ZAR changes to a “C”
Keeps it sounding soft, that’s how it’s gotta be!
I know that this seems a lot to know,
Don’t worry too much, it only happens in “YO”!

9. Now there’s 4 little verbs, where you must try, to make a spell change and insert a Y.
They start out normal in me and you,
But in HE and THEY here’s what we gonna do…
We jam in a “Y” between the E and the O
It’s sound protection now there ya go!
YO LEÍ, TÚ LEISTE… but ÉL LEYÓ,
“¿me entendiste?”

10. Yo leí, Tú leíste… but ÉL LEYÓ,
“¿me entendiste?”
Nosotros leímos, vosotros leísteis
Ellos LEYERON, ¿comprendisteis?
CREER, CAER, OÍR too
All take the same changes, it’s what we gotta do!

11. Now its time for irregular verbs, which seem a lot harder to do… But if you sing my song as we go along you can learn all the weirdos too!

12. Making preterite verbs in irregular forms,
Can really be a snap…
If you sing the song that I wrote for you,
Its called the Preterite Rap!
First up to learn are SER and IR,
Which mean “to be” and “to go”
As a bonus for you, they’re the same to do,
Which I think you already know!

13. Yo fui, tú fuiste, él and ella fue
If you say ‘em out loud as you walk to class
You’ll get ‘em down ok!
Nosotros fuimos, vosotros fuisteis, ellos fueron “they been”
The last one’s hard, so spell it out,
F.U.E.R.O. and N!
Since its 2 for 1 with these 2 verbs, in the conjugation game… you gotta read close to choose the right one, ‘cuz they both look just the same!

14. TENER and ESTAR, to have and to be
Are the next 2 verbs in line.
We use “ESTAR” for temporary states,
“Like I’m sad or feeling fine”
It won’t take long to learn them both,
If you’re running short on time,
One fits inside the other one,
Shout ‘em out and hear them rhyme!

15. Tuve, estuve
Tuviste, estuviste
Tuvo, estuvo
You’re doing it now, away we go
Tuvimos, estuvimos
Tuvisteis, estuvisteis
Tuvieron, estuvieron
Chunk it up, you’ve got it there on!

16. The next 2 verbs, coming right up
To stare you in the face…
PODER - to succeed or to try and fail
PONER - to put or to place
Now the thing to know when making these verbs, that all of you must do…
Is pop out the “O” from the middle of the verb and replace it with a “U”!

17. Yo PUSE, Yo PUSE
Say what you yelling at me?
Now don’t freak out, that’s PONER in the YO, not street profanity!
The rest of the verb isn’t quite as much fun,
But you still have to finish it out…
Pusiste and puso, pusimos, pusisteis c’mon and give it a shout!
Said a P.U.S. and I.E.R. and the end is O and an N…that takes care of to put or to place, PODER’s close so listen again

18. PODER works the same in the preterite game,
Listen up, attention on me!
We’ll make this verb the same as PONER,
‘cept change the “S” to a “D”.
Said P.U.D.E., pude means “I could”
Pudiste, pudo, pudimos, pudisteis, pudieron
That sounds good!
Now PODER takes a change in the negative stage, it has a new meaning, I think that’s strange!

19. NO PUDO means “to try and fail” Like when you get caught and have to bail!

20. Now the next two verbs that we must learn, mean “to bring” and “to say”
TRAER and DECIR have a lot going on,
In the past they change to a “J”
YO TRAJE YO DIJE
TU TRAJISTE, TU DIJISTE
EL TRAJO, ELLA DIJO
Makin’ verbs with a “J” now here we go!

21. TRAJIMOS, DIJIMOS
TRAJISTEIS and DIJISTEIS
TRAJERON, DIJERON
You’ve got to try and care on!
Now there’s still a few more, you’ve not seen before,
Like HACER and SABER, there’s verbs galore!
Hacer is real tricky and can even get sticky, Especially in “EL” its really quite ICKY!

22. Yo goes HICE
Tú HICISTE
But Él goes HIZO
What did she say?
H-I-Z-O, he did or made and there ya go!
Hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron in the least stays
Now there’s one more verb before I go,
That’s SABER which means “to know”

23. It’s kinda strange, it works like PUDE
Gonna change it to a U, the YO form’s SUPE!
Now what’s it mean, I hear you shout…
Saber in the past means “to find out”.
S-U-P-E
I found out what you said about me
Supiste means that you found out…
There’s a test today, what’s it about?
S.U.P.O.
he found out that you had to go…

24. I know that y’all can make the rest,
Following the patterns, gonna put you to the test….
I’ll leave the rest of the verbs to you,
As we learn ‘em you know what you must do!
My song is over and I’m out of time, but when we get a new verb YOU gonna make the rhyme.

25. Singin’ on and on and on on and on
The verbs don’t stop ‘til the break of dawn
But if you sing my song as you go along,
They wont be so hard that you can’t keep on
Just do it, just do it, just do it do it do it! 