Irregular Preterite Tense

Irregular Preterite TenseThe Triangle Verbs

What are Triangle VerbsThe triangle verbs are a set of irregular verbs that all share the same set of endings. The most common of these verbs are Tener Poner SaberEstar venir QuererPoder decirHacer traer

The EndingsI use a triangle to help me remember the endings. The areas the triangle touches are identical to regular er/-ir preterite tense endings.

imosisteisteisieron

The other endingsThe other two endings I remember are just like the ar preterite tense endings but without accents.eimosisteisteisoieron

The StemsEvery triangle verbin other words, all the verbs that use these endingshas an irregular stem. This means you will not be able to simply take the ar, -er, and ir off as you have done in the past.

YOU MUST MEMORIZE THE STEM AS WELL AS THE ENDINGS.

These are the StemsTener tuvPoner pusSaber supEstar estuvVenir vinQuerer quisPoder pudDecir dijHacer hic/zTraer traj

Putting it all togetherThe endingseimosisteoieronThe conjugation processFirst choose the verb that communicates the meaning you want

Select the irregular stem for that verb.

Add the ending that matches the doer of the action.

Lets conjugate poder to say he could.eimosisteieronFirst, write the stem for poder

PUD

Second, add the he/she/usted ending from the irregular set of endings.oO

The process is the same with other triangle verbsTo conjugate hacer to we made we would write the irregular stem.

And then add the we form ending. eisteoieronimosHicimos

Two Special RulesThe verb hacer uses the irregular stem HIC. The he/she/Ud. ending is an O. Because the C will change pronunciation when followed by O, we change the C to a Z.

HIZO Stems that end in J such as traj and dij will drop the I in the ellos/Uds. form.

If the stem ends in j drop the i in they.

TRAJERONDIJERON

All that is left is to memorizeYou should memorize this using the method that works best for you. If you like rules, follow the ones in this presentation.

If you prefer to simply memorize, take some time and write out the conjugations and study them until they are automatic.