preterite tense regular verbs – el pretérito ...€¦ · hablaste hablasteis habló hablaron er...
TRANSCRIPT
Preterite tense Regular verbs – El pretérito Verbos regulares
A. The preterite tense is used to refer to past actions:
1. That occurred at a fixed point in time.I called at 1:00.Llamé a la una.
2. That were performed a specific number of times (even in the # is not explicitly stated.)I called you twice.Te llamé dos veces.
3. That occurred during a specific enclosed period of time.He lived there for 5 years.Él vivió allí por cinco años.
4. That are part of a series of events.I bought a hat, sat down on a bench and fell asleep.Compré un sombrero, me senté en un banco y me dormí.
B. The preterite is also used for sudden changes* of mood, feelings or opinions.At that moment, I was not afraid.En ese momento, no tuve miedo.(Usually, moods, feelings and opinions in the past use the imperfect tense. The preterite is usedhere because it is a sudden change.)
C. The preterite is frequently associated with phrases that pinpoint a particular occasion orspecific time frame.
ayer despuésyesterday afterwards
ayer por la mañana durante XXyesterday morning for XX (for/during any enclosed period)
ayer por la tarde el año pasadoyesterday afternoon last year
anteayer el lunes por la nochethe day before yesterday Monday night
anoche el mes pasado (el/la XX pasado/a)last night last month (last XX)
desde el primer momento el otro díafrom the first moment the other day
en ese momento esta tardeat that moment this afternoon
entonces hace dos días/añosthen two days/years ago
esta mañana/tarde/noche la semana pasadathis morning/afternoon/night last week
hace # días/semanas/meses/años luego# days/weeks/months/years ago then/next
IF THE ACTION IS IN THE PAST AND YOU CAN DETERMINE PRECISELY WHEN ITOCCURRED, OR HOW MANY TIMES IT OCCURRED, THEN USE THE PRETERITE!
To conjugate the regular verbs in the preterite, drop the ar, er, or ir to form the stem of the verband add the following endings:
ar verbs: é, aste, ó, amos, asteis, aron
Example: hablar
hablé hablamoshablaste hablasteishabló hablaron
er & ir verbs: í, iste, ió, imos, isteis, ieron(Yes! You use the same endings for er & ir verbs in the preterite!)
Example: correr
corrí corrimoscorriste corristeiscorrió corrieron
Excerpted and modified from:http://www.studyspanish.com/verbs/lessons/pretreg.htm