Spanish Preterite Tense

Preterite Summary

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Regular Verbs

AR verbs                               ER/IR Verbs

É             amos                      í               imos

Aste        ásteis                      iste          ísteis

ó              aron                        ió             ieron

Stem changes

       AR verbs have no stem changes
        ER verbs have no stem changes

        IR verbs use the first letter of the stem change (o-ue) in the 3^rd and 6^th conjugations.

-Car, -gar, and -zar

The “Yo form” has a spelling change when the infinitive ends in car, gar, or zar. 

Here are 3 examples…

Tocar – toque =   I played

Jugar – jugué =     I played

Empezar – empecé =    I began

Ir (to go)/ ser (to be)

Fui                          fuimos

Fuiste                     fuisteis

Fue                         fueron

Dar (to give), & ver (to see)

                Use er/ir endings and no accents

di                             dimos            

diste                        disteis       

dio                          dieron        

                                 vi                             vimos
                                 viste                        visteis
                                 vio                          vieron

Double vowel verbs (not traer)

Verbs with two vowels in a row have accents on the first 5 conjugations and “y´s” instead of “I´s” in the 3^rd and 6^th.

Example:                                              Leer

Leí                          Leímos

Leíste                     Leísteis

Leyó                       Leyeron

“U” and “I” verbs

Anduv-                    tuv- Estuv-                      hic,hiz- Pud-                        quis- Pus-                         vin- Sup-

There are 9 verbs that are in the “u” or “I”  groups.  They have unusual stems and a strange combination of unaccented endings.

E             imos

Iste         isteis

O             ieron

 “J” verbs

Conduj-                   bendij- Dij-                          reduj Traduj- Traj-

There are 6 verbs that are in the “j”  group.  Like the “u” or “I”  groups, they have strange stems and endings.  The “I” is missing from the sixth ending.

E             imos

Iste         isteis

O             eron