A1
The preterite — the completed past
How the Spanish preterite is formed, the irregular stems that take no accents, and what it is used for.
The preterite reports something that happened and finished.
| -ar (hablar) | -er / -ir (comer) | |
|---|---|---|
| yo | hablé | comí |
| tú | hablaste | comiste |
| él / ella | habló | comió |
| nosotros | hablamos | comimos |
| vosotros | hablasteis | comisteis |
| ellos | hablaron | comieron |
-er and -ir verbs share one set of endings here, which halves the work.
Ayer comí en un restaurante.
yesterday I-ate in a restaurant
Yesterday I ate at a restaurant.
The accents matter
Hablo is I speak; habló is he spoke. One accent apart, and both are common words.
Hablo con él. / Habló con él.
I-speak with him / he-spoke with him
I speak to him. / He spoke to him.
Ayer hablo con mi madre.
Ayer hablé con mi madre.
Without the accent it is the present tense. Spanish spelling carries the tense here, and ayer cannot fix it.
nosotros is ambiguous for -ar and -ir verbs
Hablamos is both we speak and we spoke; so is vivimos. Only context separates them, and Spanish is content with that.
The irregular ones take no accents at all
A group of very common verbs has its own stem and a distinct set of endings — -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron, with no written accents anywhere.
| tener | tuve, tuviste, tuvo… |
| estar | estuve, estuviste, estuvo… |
| poder | pude, pudiste, pudo… |
| hacer | hice, hiciste, hizo… |
| querer | quise, quisiste, quiso… |
| venir | vine, viniste, vino… |
No pude venir.
not I-could to-come
I couldn’t come.
ser and ir are identical
Fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron serves both verbs. Fui a Madrid is I went; fui profesor is I was a teacher. Context has never troubled anyone.
Fui al cine ayer.
I-went to-the cinema yesterday
I went to the cinema yesterday.