1. El Préterito (The Past) No lloren In English, we do not thing about the past tense. It is natural and we learned to use it before we ever went to school. In Spanish, we do not have that luxury. In Spanish, we have to learn all the forms we already know naturally in English

2. First, present in English I She You He They You all We speak speaks speak -to talk speak

3. Ahora, presente en Español Yo Ella Tú ÉlEllos Vosotros Nosotros hablo habla hablas hablar- to talk hablamos habláis hablanEllas UstedesUsted

4. Now, past in English I She You He They You all We spoke -to talk spoke In English, we change the stem speakspoke

5. Ahora, préterito en Español Yo Ella Tú ÉlEllos Vosotros Nosotros hablé habló hablaste hablar- to talk hablamos hablasteis hablaronEllas UstedesUsted In Spanish, endings change not stem

6. Remember, in Spanish, we do not have to use pronouns. Unlike English, we do not normally change the stem so we do not need them. We just have to memorize the new endings like we did with the present. é aste ó amos asteis aron

7. AR endings are different from ER and IR just like in the present. Unlike the present, their is no difference between the Nosotros & Vosotros forms of ER/IR. The endings of ER/IR verbs in the preterite: í íste ió imos isteis ieron emosimoséisís

8. Remember the irregular verbs Dar and Ver? They are not irregular in the preterite. Take off the ar from Dar and the er from Ver and you are ready to conjugate dídí díste dió dimos disteis dieron