THE SPANISH PRETRITO

MARY ELLEN MUOZ PAGE

2008

The preterit can be divided into five different categories. It might be easier if students learned to classify these verbs into categories to retain them better. Regular verbs AR, ER, IR AR verbs drop the AR ending and add , aste, , amos, (asteis), aron ER verbs drop the ER ending and add , iste, i, imos, (isteis), ieron IR verbs drop the IR ending and add , iste, i, imos, (isteis), ieron Orthographic changing AR verbs These verbs have a consonant change only in the YO form of the preterit C > QU toqu G > GU jugu Z>C empec GU > G averig before

Orthographic changing ER and IR verbs These verbs have a vowel change only in 3rd person singular and plural When three vowels appear together and the middle vowel is an unstressed I, the I changes to Y cay/cayeron oy/oyeron ley/leyeron huy/huyeron Certain verbs change the root to end in J for the preterit. These add their own set of endings: e, iste, o, imos, (isteis), eron conducir > conduj traducir > traduj traer > traj decir > dij

Totally irregular verbs have a different root These verbs all have different roots, but they share the same endings: e, iste, o, imos, (isteis), ieron (except IR, DAR, SER) Totally irregulars never have accents. andar, dar, estar, ir, ser, tener, querer, poner, poder, saber, hacer, venir Roller Skate verbs shoe verbs that change in 3rd. singular & plural in preterit dormir > dUrmi, dUrmieron pedir > pIdi, pIdieron Also see my educational packet Roller Skate verbs in Spanish

PRETERITO QU HICIERON ESTAS PERSONAS? Exercise 1: To practice the preterit, create a list of famous people from different nationalities and list them in one column and their accomplishments in random order in a second column. Have students match the two columns and write a COMPLETE sentence answer? 1. Neil Armstrong 2. Christopher Columbus 3. Jos Feliciano 4. Carl Lewis 5. Mark Spitz 6. Jean-Claude Killy 7. Billy "el Nio" 8. Gabriela Sabatini 9. Julia Childs 10. Mario Lanza 11. Robert Shapiro 12. Alexander Graham Bell 13. Louis Braille 14. Albert Einstein 15. Arnold Schwarzeneger 16. Romeo Montague 17. Abrahn Lincoln 18. Marco Polo 19. Fred Astaire y Ginger Rogers 20. el Sr. Spock, el Capitn Kirk y su tripulacin (crew) A. esquiar muy bien en Europa B. defender a O.J. Simpson C. bailar bien en Hollywood CH. llamar a su amigo Watson D. robar bancos en el Oeste E. cantar Feliz Navidad F. correr rpidamente G. descubrir el Nuevo Mundo H. escribir un alfabeto nuevo I. cantar bien en italiano J. ganar 6 medallas olmpicas K. preparar buena comida L. caminar por la luna LL. estudiar fsica M. amar a Julieta Capulet N. luchar contra los enemigos . morir en 1.865 O. hacer muchos ejercicios P. jugar al tenis Q. viajar mucho por China