The Irregular Preterite

There are many irregular verbs in the preterite tense you must memorize!

All verbs that end in-car , -gar, and –zar

have an irregular “yo” form!

-car c qu-gar g gu-zar z c

These are only “-ar” ending verbs.

Preterite “-ar”endings are:

-é -amos-aste-ó -aron

Verbs that end in-car follow this pattern:

atacar – to attackataqué atacamosatacasteatacó atacaron

Verbs Ending in -car

buscar – to look forpescar – to fishtocar – to play/touchexplicar – to explainsacar – to take outatacar – to attack

Verbs that end in -gar follow this pattern:

llegar – to arrivellegué llegamosllegastellegó llegaron

Verbs Ending in -gar

pagar – to payjugar – to play (sport/game)llegar – to arriveentregar – to hand inpegar – to hitnegar – to denyrogar – to beg

Verbs that end in –zar follow this pattern:

comenzar – to begincomencé comenzamoscomenzastecomenzó comenzaron

Verbs Ending in -zar

abrazar – to hugalmorzar – to eat lunchrezar – to praycomenzar – to begin/startempezar – to begin/startcruzar – to cross

Una Práctica

1.pescar / yo –2.jugar / ella –3.abrazar / yo –4.tocar / nosotros –5.llegar / yo –6.almorzar / tú –7.explicar / ellos –8.pegar / yo –

pesquéjugóabracé

tocamosllegué

almorzasteexplicaron

pegué

There are some stem changers in the preterite tense with these rules:

1. Only –ir verbs make a change2. Make a different type of change:

normal change new change e ie e i o ue o u

e i e i 3. Only change the forms in the bottom (sole) of the shoe!

These are only “-ir” ending verbs.

Preterite “-ir”endings are:

-í -imos-iste-ió -ieron

Ejemplo:preferir (ie)– to prefer

preferí preferimospreferisteprefirió prefirieron

mentir – to lie sentir – to regret/be sorrydivertirse – to have funpreferir – to prefer

Ejemplo:dormir (ue)– to sleep

dormí dormimosdormistedurmió durmieron

morir – to die dormir – to sleep

Ejemplo:pedir (i)– to ask for/requestpedí pedimospedistepidió pidieron

vestirse – to get dressed reír – to laughpedir – to ask for/request sonreír – to smileservir – to serve repetir – to repeat

Una Práctica

1.preferir /nosotros –2.dormir / ella –3.pedir / yo –4.vestirse / Julio –5.mentir / los chicos –6.morir / mi abuelo –7.servir / tú –8. sonreír / ellas –

preferimosdurmió

pedíse vistió

mintieronmurió

servistesonrieron