 The preterite is used to express completed actions in the past!
o
Ayer yo jugué al fútbol en el parque.
Yesterday I played soccer in the park.
o
El año pasado mi familia y yo fuimos a Londres.
Last year my family and I went to London.
o
Anoche yo estudié para mi examen de español.
Last night I studied for my Spanish test.
 The preterite is formed by taking the –AR/-ER/-IR off of the verb and adding a preterite ending.
 Below is a summary of the preterite tense
BAILAR
1) Verb Endings:
Yo
é
Nosotros
amos
Tú
aste
Vosotros
asteis
ó
Ellos
Ellas
Ustedes
aron
Él
Ella
Usted
Ex.
Yo
bailé
Nosotros
bailamos
Tú
bailaste
Vosotros
bailasteis
bailó
Ellos
Ellas
Ustedes
bailaron
Él
Ella
Usted
2) Verbs that end in –ZAR, -CAR, & -GAR have a spelling change in the ‘YO’ form.
~~
-gar  gué
Ex:
llegar  yo llegué
- car  qué
Ex:
sacar  yo saqué
- zar  cé
Ex:
empezar  yo empecé
3) Stem Changes
-AR verbs do NOT stem change in the preterite!!!
 -ER & -IR verbs use the same verb endings in the preterite:
COMER
1) Verb Endings
Yo
í
Nosotros
imos
Tú
iste
Vosotros
isteis
ió
Ellos
Ellas
Ustedes
ieron
Él
Ella
Usted
Ex.
Yo
comí
Nosotros
comimos
Tú
comiste
Vosotros
comisteis
comió
Ellos
Ellas
Ustedes
comieron
Él
Ella
Usted
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2) ‘Y’ Verbs
-ER & -IR verbs whose stem ends in a vowel have a ‘y’ in their 3rd person forms.
LEER
For example:
Yo
leí
Nosotros
leímos
Tú
leíste
Vosotros
leísteis
Él
Ella
leyó
Usted
Ellos
Ellas
Ustedes
NOTE
All the forms with
‘ í ’ have an accent!
leyeron
3) Stem Changes
-ER verbs do NOT stem-change in the preterite!
-IR verbs are the only verbs that can stem-change in the preterite! The rule is...
-IR verbs that stem change in the present tense also stem change in the preterite tense, but
only in the 3rd person forms (él/ella/usted & ellos/ellas/ustedes).
Unlike the present tense, there are only 2 possible stem-changes in the preterite: O-U & E-I
For example:
DORMIR
PREFERIR
Yo
dormí
Nosotros
dormimos
Yo
preferí
Nosotros
preferimos
Tú
dormiste
Vosotros
dormisteis
Tú
preferiste
Vosotros
preferisteis
Él
Ella
Usted
durmió
Ellos
Ellas
Ustedes
durmieron
Él
Ella
Usted
prefirió
Ellos
Ellas
Ustedes
prefirieron
 There are MANY irregular verbs in the preterite! For example….
IR/SER – to go/ to be
DAR – to give
VER – to see
HACER – to do/make
fui
fuimos
di
dimos
vi
vimos
hice
hicimos
fuiste
fuisteis
diste
disteis
viste
visteis
hiciste
hicisteis
fue
fueron
dio
dieron
vio
vieron
hizo
hicieron
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Many of the verbs that are irregular in the preterite have an irregular stem. In addition, there is a
different set of verb endings that is used with these verbs. These irregular preterite endings are derived
from the regular preterite endings, combining some –AR endings and some –ER/-IR endings. There are NO
ACCENTS on the irregular preterite endings!!!
STEMS:
ENDINGS:
ANDAR  anduv___
PONER  pus__
PODER  pud__
(to walk)
(to put/place)
(to be able/can)
SABER  sup___
ESTAR  estuv__
(to know/find out)
(to be)
-e
- imos
- iste
- isteis
-o
- ieron
VENIR  vin__
(to come)
Hammer Endings!
QUERER  quis___
TENER  tuv___
(to want)
(to have)
Several verbs that are totally irregular in the preterite are “J Verbs”, meaning that their irregular stems
end in a “J”. These “J Verbs” have a slightly different set of irregular endings.
STEMS:
ENDINGS:
TRAER  traj__
DECIR  dij___
TRADUCIR  traduj___
(to bring)
(to say/tell)
(to translate)
CONDUCIR  conduj___
(to drive)
PRODUCIR  produj___
(to produce)
-e
- imos
- iste
- isteis
-o
- eron
* ALL other verbs that end in
- CIR are “J Verbs” as well.
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