El Preterito talks about something that happened in the past.

It is used when the action described has already been completed.

Regular preterite verbs, like present tense verbs, are formed by adding tense endings.

Preterite –ar verbs

Ejemplo: Hablar

Yo -é

Nosotros -amos

Tú -aste

-

Él, ella -óusted

Ellos, ellas -aronustedes

Hablé hablamos

hablaste -

habló hablaron

Preterite –er & -ir verbs

Ejemplo: Comer Vivir

Yo -í

Nosotros -imos

Tú -iste

-

Él, ella -ióusted

Ellos, ellas -ieronustedes

comí comimos

comiste

-

comió comieron

viví vivimos

viviste -

vivió vivieron

* Regular –er and –ir verbs take the same endings.

The nosotros form of –ar and –ir verbs are the same in the preterite and in the present tense. But we can usually tell if someone is referring to the past or the present from the context.

Abuela says:

-Yo viajé a Costa Rica el verano pasado. Acampamos en un parque y caminamos por San José.

I traveled to Costa Rica last summer. We camped in a park and walked through San José.

Even though Abuela uses the words acampamos y caminamos, we know that she is talking about an event in the past because she used the word viajé in the previous sentence.

Preterite: -car, -gar, -zar

In the preterite, verbs that end in –car, -gar, -zar are spelled differently in the yo form. The spelling changed in order to keep the pronunciation the same.

c qu sacar yo saqué

z c almorzar yo almorcé

g gu jugar yo jugué

Verbs with –car, -gar, -zar Spelling Changes

c qu Explicar (to explain)

Buscar ( to look for)

practicar ( to practice)

Tocar (to touch, to play an instrument)

z c comenzar (e – ie) (to start)

empezar (e-ie) (to begin)

g gu llegar ( to arrive)

pagar ( to pay)

An unaccented i between two vowels changes to y.

Papá lo leyó ayer. ( verb leer in the él form) = leió = leyó

No oyeron las noticias.

The verbs ir, ser, and hacer, which are very common, are irregular in the preterite.

* Ir and ser have the same irregular forms.

ir Ser hacer

yo Fui Fui Hice

tú Fuiste Fuiste Hiciste

Él, ella, usted

Fue Fue Hizo

nosotros Fuimos Fuimos Hicimos

Ellos, ellas, ustedes

Fueron Fueron hicieron

Adjectives of Nationality Adjectives of a nationality whose singular masculine form

ends in –o have a feminine form ending in –a. the plural of these adjectives is formed by adding –s.

argentino chino hondureño salvadoreño chilenoboliviano dominicano italiano guatemalteco sueco

brasileño ecuatorianomexicano suizocolombiano europeo paraguayo uruguayocoreano filipino peruano

venezolanoCubanogriego puertorriqueño ruso

Singular plural

Masculine Colombiano Colomianos

Feminine Colombiana colombianas

Adjectives of Nationality Adjectives of nationality whos singluar form ends in –

e, -a, or an accented í have only one form which is masculine and feminine.

Canadiense marroquí israelitaCostarricense nicaragüense vietnamitaEstadounidense paquistaní

Singular Plural

Masc. & Fem.

CanadienseIsraelitapaquistaní

CanadiensesIsraelitaspaquistaníes

Adjectives of nationality

Adjectives of nationality that end in a consonant from the feminine singular by adding –a. The plural of these adjectives is formed by adding –es to masculine adjectives and –s to feminine ones.

Aleman francés irlandésEscocés holandés japonésEspañol inglés portugués

Singular Plural

Masculine españoljaponés

españolesjaponeses

Feminine españolajaponesa

españolasjaponesas