PreteritePreteritePreteritePreterite

• Preterite is a form of past tenseexample I went.

• Preterite is seen as completed.

-ar endings• é• aste• ó

• amos • asteis• aron

Hablar• é• aste• ó

• amos • asteis• aron

hablhabl

habl

habl

habl

habl

Conjugate caminar• Caminé• Caminaste• Caminó

• Caminamos• Caminasteis• caminaron

What does each conjugation mean?

Caminé Caminamos

Caminaste Caminasteis

Caminó Caminaron

I walkedI did walk

You walkedYou did walk

He walkedHe did walk

We walkedWe did walk

You all walkedYou all did walk

They walkedThey did walk

What do you notice about the preterit AR

endings?• Accent marks matter!• The nosotros is the same in

present tense. So how can you tell when it’s present or preterit tense?– nadamos en la piscina hoy.– nadamos en la piscina ayer.

Vamos a practicar• I walked last

night• Did you listen to

the teacher?• They did practice

soccer yesterday

• Yo caminé anoche

• ¿Escuchaste a la profesora?

• Practicaron futbol ayer

Rule Breakers• Conjugate practicar• What kind of sound does

the “c” make in the colored boxes?

• ca/co make a hard “c”• What does “ce” sound

like in the white box?• <<S AY>>• How do they preserve

the hard “c” ?...they modify it!

practicé practicamos

practicaste practicasteis

practicó practicaron

<<K Ay>>

Qué

So… Rule #1

• In the “Yo” form, the C Qu. • We call this a Car verb because it

happens with verbs that end in “car”

What happens if a verb ends in gar?

• Conjugate jugar• How does the “g” sound

in the pink boxes?• This is called a hard “g”• What does the “g” sound

like in the white box?• <<H Ay>>• How do they keep the

sound fluid?... Modify it!

jugé jugamos

jugaste jugasteis

jugó jugaron

<<G AY>>

Gué

Rule #2• If the verb ends in GAR, the “yo”

form changes from a G GU to preserve the sound

What happens if a verb ends in zar?

• Conjugate empezar• How does the “z” sound

in the pink boxes?• This is called a hard “z”• What does the “z” sound

like in the white box?• <<Th Ay>>• How do they keep the

sound fluid?... Modify it!

empezé empezamos

empezaste

empezasteis

empezó empezaron

<<S AY>>

Cé

Rule #3• If the verb ends in ZAR, the “yo”

form changes from a Z C to preserve the sound.

Gar, car, zar verbs in Yo

• gar=> gué• car => qué• zar => cé

End with:

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