1. El pretérito The Preterite
El pasado

2. What is the preterite? A past tense in Spanish
A tense with many irregular verbs
Used to express an action that began and ended at a specific time in the past

3. Key terms for the preterite tense
Ayer =
yesterday
Anteayer =
the day before yesterday
Anoche =
last night
La semana pasada =
last week

4. More key terms El mes pasado = last month El año pasado = last year
Ayer por la mañana

5. Regular –AR Verbs in the Preterite
To conjugate:
Drop the –ar
Add on the appropriate endings

6. The preterite
Yo hablé con mis amiogs ayer. Nosotros hablamos de la escuela y de los amigos. Rita me explicó que ella fue al cine con Jorge. Ellos fueron a comer en Cheeseckae Factory después. Jorge pagó para todo, los tickets, las meriendas, y la cena. Sandra pasó la tarde en la playa. ¿Y tú, esquiaste?

7. Hablar = spoke; talked yo hablé Nosotros hablamos Tú hablaste él,
Ella, habló
Ud.
ellos,
ellas, hablaron
Uds.

8. Which ending is the same in the present tense?
Nosotros

9. How will you tell the difference between the present and the preterite for the nosotros form?
Context

10. Be careful!
Yo and él, ella, Ud forms have ACCENTS!!!

11. Interesting note…
The “yo” form in the present tense takes an “o” as its’ ending without an accent mark and the él, ella Ud form ending for the preterite tense is “ó” (o with an accent).
Therefore, be careful, because the accent mark changes the meaning of the sentence.

12. Examples: Present Tense Hablo por teléfono. I speak on the telephone.
Preterite Tense
Habló por teléfono.
He/ She/ You (formal) spoke on the telephone.

13. Two verbs with the same conjugations you say???
Which two?
Ser Ir

14. Isn’t there anything different between the two verbs?
No!

15. When how will I know which is which?
So glad you wanted to know…
Context
Read the sentence for clues
Translate and substitute each verb meaning in and see which one makes sense

16. So, what are the preterit conjugations of ser AND ir?
yo fui nosotros fuimos
tú fuiste
él, ella, Ud. fue ellos, ellas, Uds. fueron

17. What about regular –er and –ir verbs?
So glad you asked
They are so cool!
They have the exact same endings!!!
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!

18. What about the nosotros form?
-ER and -IR preterite endings are the same even for the nosotros form
nosotros
nosotros
nosotros
nosotros
nosotros
nosotros

19. Do any of the forms have accents??
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!

20. What are the endings for regular -er AND–ir verbs in the preterite!!
Examples:
Yo -í
Nosotros
-imos
Tú -iste
él, ella, Ud
-ió
Ellos, ellas, Uds.
-ieron

21. So let’s conjugate vivir and comer in the preterite