Small Hints for the preterite

#1 Verbs that end in –car,-gar, and –zar only change in the “yo” form.

o Car → qué

o Gar → gué

o Zar → cé

#2 Remember, Spanish doesn’t like three vowels in a row…so…

When the stem of an –ER or –IR verb ends in a vowel, the third person endings change:

o –ió → -yó

o –ieron → yeron

o argűir (to argue) : argűí, argűiste, arguyó, argűimos, arguyeron

o caer: (you tell me)

#3 -Ar and –er stem-changers from the present don’t change in pretérito! Forget what you know. BUT, -ir verbs still do…somewhat!! ONLY in the third person, the e changes to an i and the o changes to a u.

o repetir, dormir, pedir, servir, morir, sentirse, divertirse, vestirse

#4 Ser and ir have the same preterite forms.

o Ellos fueron a las islas canarias para las navidades.

o En 1984, Claudia fue agente de viajes.

#5 DAR – Only irregular because this sneaky little verb robs the –er/-ir regular endings.

o di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis dieron

#6 Don’t forget our three friends: tener, estar, andar (3 favorite “uve” verbs)

o andar: anduve, anduviste, anduvo, anduvimos, anduvisteis anduvieron

o tener: tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvieron

o estar: (you tell me…)

#7 Then, unfortunately we have some more stubborn friends. For these verbs the stem changes and then we follow our rules…Amigos, it’s all about memorizing until your brain hurts!

All endings are: e, iste, o, imos, isteis, ieron

o Saber: sup- Decir: dij-

o Hacer: Hic- (él hizo) Traer: traj- (**dijeron)

o Querer: quis- Traducir: traduj (**trajeron)

o Poner: pus- Producir: produj-

o Poder: pud- Haber: hub-

o Conducir: conduj- Venir: vin-