The Preterite Unit 5 Chapter 3

Preterite

• The preterite is the one-time past action tense. It has a longer list of what it is NOT than it does for what it actually is.

Preterite

• It is not time in the past... “it was 10 o’clock”

• It is not age in the past... “I was twelve.”

• It is not weather... “it was a stormy night”

• It is not habitual action... “every summer I went...”

Preterite

• It is not on going action... “I was sleeping.”

• It is not emotional... “I was angry”

• It is not... well, you get the point.

• IT IS... I went swimming. You ate guacamole. We passed our exam.

Preterite• To form the preterite you drop the ending

and add...

é amos

aste asteis

ó aron

í imos

iste isteis

ió ieron

AR verbs ER/IR verbs

Preterite

• Irregulars to know for now...

• Car-Gar-Zar (yo form changes)

• Sacar = Saqué

• Jugar = Jugué

• Empezar = Empecé

Important Words

• Ayer - yesterday

• Anoche - last night

• Anteayer - the day before yesterday

• La semana pasada - last week

• El fin de semana pasada - last weekend