Past tense Irregulars

Preterite and Imperfect

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to say:

  • I can remember which verbs are irregular in both the imperfect and the preterite.

  • I can use my notes to correctly conjugate the irregular verbs.

By the end of the unit, you should be able to conjugate them on your own.

The imperfect has 3 irregulars

https://quizlet.com/_38flhr

SER

Yo era: I was, I used to be

Tú eras: You were, you used to be

Ella, él, usted era: She/he was, used to be

You were, used to be

Nosotros éramos: We were, used to be

Ellos eran: They were, used to be

Ustedes eran: Y'all were, used to be

Ir

Yo iba: I went, I used to go

Tú ibas: You went, you used to go

Ella, él, usted iba: She/he went, used to go

You went, used to go

Nosotros íbamos: We went, used to go

Ellos iban: They went, used to go

Ustedes iban: Y'all went, used to go


VER

Yo veía: I saw, I used to see

Tú veías: You saw, you used to see

Ella, él veía: She/he saw, used to seeUsted veía: You saw, used to see

Nosotros veíamos: We saw, used to see

Ellos veían: They saw, used to see

Ustedes veían: Y'all saw, used to see

  • El señor Rodriguez era un doctor bueno.

  • Todos éramos jugadores de fútbol.

  • Yo iba a la tienda cuando se ponchó mi llanta.

  • ¿Ibas a venir? Were you going to come? <-----Super common use. Talk about what someone was going to do. Ir + a + infinitive

  • Nosotros íbamos a beber esa leche. We were going to drink that milk.

  • Siempre veía salir el sol con mi papi. I always used to watch the sunrise with my dad.

The preterite has 4 totally irregular verbs + a bunch of weird ones

NO ACCENT MARKS! NO ACENTOS!

Ser and Ir

Yo fui: I went, I was

Tú fuiste: You went, You were

Ella, él fue: He/she/it went; he/she/it was

Usted fue: You went; you were

nosotros fuimos: we went; we were

ellos fueron: they went; they were

ustedes fueron: You all went; were

***FUE IS PRETTY MUCH THE ONLY FORM OF SER THAT GETS USED IN THE PRETERITE

Practice Ser, Ir, Ver and Dar

A. Complete each sentence logically.

  1. Nosotros (fuimos/vimos/dimos) a la tienda hoy.

  2. Mis padres (fueron/vieron/dieron) muy simpáticos con los vecinos.

  3. Yo (fui/vi/di) mucho esfuerzo hoy en mis clases.

  4. ¿Tú (fuiste/viste/diste) el nuevo programa de Netflix?

  5. La fiesta no (fue/dio/vio) muy divertida. Por eso, yo me (fui/di/vi).

B. Use the prompts to write unique sentences in the preterite.

  1. Yo/ir a /y/ver

  2. Ellos/ser

  3. La clase / ser

  4. Nosotros / ir

  5. Mi maestra / dar

  6. Ellos / ver

Dar: to give

yo di

tú diste

ella, él dio

usted dio

nosotros dimos

ellos, ellas dieron

ustedes dieron

Dar and Ver are IDENTICAL in Preterite Endings

Ver: to see

yo vi

tú viste

ella, él vio

usted vio

nosotros vimos

ellos, ellas vieron

ustedes vieron


Scanned_20180320-1042.pdf

Keep in mind that verbs that are a prefix + one of these verbs will be irregular in the same way.

For example:

yo + tener = yo tuve

yo + mantener = yo mantuve

yo + detener = yo detuve

ella + ponerse = ella se puso

ella + componerse = ella se compuso

ella + descomponerse = ella se descompuso

Clarification Notes:

Haber is rarely used in the preterite. Hubo is the "there was/were" form.

    • There was hope, for just a moment. Hubo esperanza por un sólo momento.

Hacer must swap out its C for a Z in the HE/SHE/USTED form to maintain the S sound.

Caber is used when there's is a question as to whether or not there was enough room.

    • ¿Cupieron todos en el carro? Did everyone fit in the car?

    • ¿Sí cupiste en esos jeans talla 2? Did you really fit into (squeeze into) those size 2 jeans?

    • Puse la mantequilla en el congelador porque no cupo en el refri. I put the butter in the freezer because it didn't fit in the fridge.

All irregulars ending in J will drop the i in the they form.

Practice irregular preterites

C. Complete each sentence with the most logical irregular preterite verb from the above list, conjugated correctly. Do not reuse any.

  1. Yo _______ la leche en el refri.

  2. Tú no _______ correr una milla.

  3. Ella nos _______, "Hola".

  4. Mi padrastro _______ a mi fiesta.

  5. Mis amigos ______ regalos a mi fiesta.

  6. Nosotros _______ tristes cuando cancelaron el año.

  7. ¿Qué _______ ustedes anoche?

  8. ¿Tú _______ la respuesta correcta?

  9. Mis amigos ________ sus carros a la playa.

  10. Yo ________ las palabras de inglés al español.