The preterite is one of the two past tenses of Spanish. It is used to refer to an action that is complete and did not happen frequently. Upon completion of this lesson, the student will be able to: 1. conjugate regular verbs in the preterite tense 2. use the preterite tense according to context 3. conjugate irregular verbs in the preterite tense 4. conjugate stem-changing verbs in the preterite tense The student should be already familiar with the: 1. use and conjugations of the present tense 2. agreement of subject and verb 3. function of adverbs
Vocabulary Building
You are encouraged to use a dictionary to expand your vocabulary.
Decision Table
If you think that you are already familiar with the objectives, proceed to Lesson 5 on page 91.
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THE PRETERITE TENSE Introduction
Conjugation -AR Ending verbs
Conjugation -ER Ending verbs
Conjugation -IR Ending verbs
The preterite is one of two past tenses in Spanish. It is used to refer to an action that was completed as a unit at a particular time.
AMAR (to love) Am-
COMER (to eat) COM-
VIVIR (to live) VIV-
Yo Tú Él/Ella/Usted Nosotros Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes
amé amaste amó amamos amaron
Yo Tú Él/Ella/Usted Nosotros Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes
comí comiste comió comimos comieron
Yo Tú Él/Ella/Usted Nosotros Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes
viví viviste vivió vivimos vivieron
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PRACTICE ACTIVITY I Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb in parenthesis: 1. yo (comer)___________ 2. tú (vivir) ___________ 3. él (amar) ___________ 4. nosotros (caminar) ___________ 5. usted (partir)___________ 6. ustedes (temer)___________ 7. ellos (hablar)___________ 8. ella (abrir)___________ 9. yo (beber)___________ 10.él y yo (comprar)___________
Go to page 86 to check your responses.
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MEANING OF THE PRETERITE TENSE
Introduction
Examples
With adverbs of time
The preterite is one of two past tenses in Spanish. It is used to refer to an action that was completed as a unit at a particular time.
María trabajó mucho ayer. (María worked very hard yesterday.) El niňo comió bien anoche. (The boy ate well last night.)
The action took place at one time (ayer) The action took place at one time (anoche)
Common adverbs signaling the need for the preterite include: o o o o o
ayer (yesterday) anteayer (day before yesterday) anoche (last night) antenoche (night before last) el lunes pasado (or any other day of the week as well) (last Monday…) o el otro día (the other day) o una vez (one time) o esta maňana (this morning)
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PRACTICE ACTIVITY II Fill in the blanks with the preterite tense of the verb in parenthesis:
1.
Él___________(caminar) al parque ayer.
2. Tú___________(mandar) el cable anoche. 3. Yo___________(volver) esta maňana. 4. Nosotros___________(tomar) el tren el sábado pasado. 5. María___________(recibir) el periódico una vez. 6. Ellos ___________(encontrar) el salón vacío ayer. 7. Usted ___________(dejar) el libro el domingo pasado. 8. Ustedes ___________(asistir) al teatro antenoche. 9. Ella ___________(abrir) la puerta ayer. 10. Juan___________(hablar) con ella anoche.
Go to page 87 to check your responses.
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IRREGULAR VERBS
Introduction
SER (to be) IR (to go) DAR (to give)
Some verbs do not follow the regular pattern of conjugation in the preterite tense.
Yo Tú Él/Ella/Usted Nosotros Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes
SER fui fuiste fue fuimos fueron
IR fui fuiste fue fuimos fueron
Dar di diste dió dimos dieron
Note: The conjugation of ser and IR are identical in the preterite. The context will clarify their meaning.
TRAER (to bring) traje trajiste trajo trajimos trajeron
HACER (to make/to do) hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicieron
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PRACTICE ACTIVITY III Fill in the blanks with the preterite tense of the verb in parenthesis: 1. yo (venir)___________ 2. tú (traer) ___________ 3. él (hacer) ___________ 4. ella (decir) ___________ 5. usted (caber)___________ 6. nosotros (saber)___________ 7. ustedes (poder)___________ 8. ellos (andar)___________ 9. yo (tener)___________ 10. yo (poner)___________ 11. tú (decir) ___________ 12. ellos (estar) ___________ 13. usted (hacer)___________ 14. tú y yo (querer) ___________ 15. María y Carlos(traer) ___________ 16. ustedes (decir) ___________ 17. Elena (tener) ___________ 18. Pedro (venir) ___________ 19. yo (saber) ___________ 20. tú (poder) ___________
Go to page 88 to check your responses.
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STEM CHANGING VERBS Introduction
-IR Stem-Changing Verbs
Other e to i Stem Changing Verbs
Other o to u Stem Changing Verbs
-IR stem changing verbs (e.g., dormir, sentir) undergo stem changes in the preterite tense as well. –AR and – IR do not. DORMIR (to sleep) dormí dormiste durmió dormimos durmieron o to u in third person singular and plural
SENTIR (to feel) sentí sentiste sintió sentimos sintieron e to i in third person singular and plural
MENTIR PREFERIR PEDIR SERVIR VESTIR (to lie) (to prefer) (to ask) (to serve) (to dress) mentí preferí pedí serví vestí mentiste preferiste pediste serviste vestiste mintió prefirió pidió sirvio vistió mentimos preferimos pedimos servimos vestimos mintieron prefirieron pidieron sirvieron vistieron e to i in third person singular and plural
morir (to die) morí moriste murió morimos murieron o to u in third person singular and plural 82
PRACTICE ACTIVITY IV
Fill in the blanks with the preterite tense of the verb in parenthesis: 1. yo (vivir)___________ 2. tú (contar) ___________ 3. él (sentir) ___________ 4. nosotros (almorzar) ___________ 5. ellos (preferir)___________ 6. ustedes (pedir)___________ 7. Elena y Alex (mentir)___________ 8. ella (servir)___________ 9. ellos (vestir)___________ 10. yo (perder)___________
Go to page 89 to check your responses.
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LESSON TEST I. Use the correct form of the preterite tense of the verb in parenthesis: 1. Él ___________ (caminar) al parque ayer. 2. Tú___________ (ir) al cine antenoche. 3. Yo___________(ser) actor una vez. 4. Alberto___________(estudiar) francés anoche. 5. Ellos___________(visitar) a María el miércoles por la tarde. 6. Nosotros___________(sentir) la campana ayer. 7. Usted___________(hacer) la tarea en la maňana. 8. Ustedes___________(poder) salir ayer 9. Ella__________(saber) la verdad anoche. 10. Yo ___________(hablar) con Nancy el domingo.
II. Fill in the blanks with the preterite tense of the verb in parenthesis: 1. él (traer)___________ 2. nosotros (venir) ___________ 3. ustedes (hacer) ___________ 4. María (decir) ___________ 5. tú (estar)___________ 6. yo (poner)___________ 7. ustedes (saber)___________ 8. él y yo (caber)___________ 9. ella (andar)___________ 10. David (producir)___________
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III. Fill in the blanks with the preterite tense of the verb in parenthesis: 1. tú (sonar)___________ 2. nosotros (mentir) ___________ 3. ella (sentir) ___________ 4. yo (volver) ___________ 5. usted (comenzar)___________ 6. él (perder)___________ 7. ustedes (mover)___________ 8. ella (empezar)___________ 9. ella y yo (repetir)___________ 10. ellos (dormir)___________
You took the lesson test as a pretest and you scored 100% You missed more than two questions in section I You missed more than 2 answers in section II You missed more than 2 answers in section III You missed fewer than two questions in each section
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