- •Ser & estar/ to be
- •Idiomatic expressions
- •Irregular/ irregular
- •Irregular conditional forms
- •Past tense
- •Prefixes des-, in-, and re-
- •Disminutivo/ diminutive
- •Conocer & Saber/ to know
- •Gerundio/ gerund
- •Verbos irregulares / Irregular Verbs
- •Reflexivo/ reflexive
- •Preposiciones/ prepositions
- •Dif. Between pedir & preguntar
- •Hay / there is (are)
- •Imperfecto/ imperfect tense
- •Verbos irregulares/ irregular verbs
- •Subjuntivo/ subjunctive
- •Voz pasiva/ passive voice
- •Hacer/ to do, make
- •To have
- •2. The simplest way of expressing possession is by using tener/ to have.
- •3. In Spanish, tener is used for indicating age. On the other hand, in English the verb to be is used for telling age.
- •Gustar / to like
- •4. Other verbs in the same category are following:
Past tense
In Spanish there are 2 simple past tenses, the preterite and the imperfect. A simple tense is one that does not need an auxiliary verb, such as to have.
El pretérito/ The preterite
El imperfecto/ The imperfect
EL PRETÉRITO/ THE PRETERIT
The preterite is used to refer to an action, state or condition that is considered fully completed in the past. It is formed by removing the infinitive endings -ar, -er, and -ir and adding the appropriate endings as follows:
NOTE: The endings of verbs ending in -er and -ir are identical.
Pronoun |
Comprar/ to buy |
Vender/ to sell |
Recibir/ to receive |
yo/ I |
compré |
vendí |
recibí |
tú/ you |
compraste |
vendiste |
recibiste |
él, ella, Ud./ he, she, you |
compró |
vendió |
recibió |
nos./ we |
compramos |
vendimos |
recibimos |
vos./you |
comprasteis |
vendisteis |
recibisteis |
ellos, Uds./ they, you |
compraron |
vendieron |
recibieron |
NOTE: The first person (yo), the third person ( él, ella) and Ud. require written accents. Without the accents, these words mean something else. For instance, compro (without the accent) is the present tense for the first person. For accentuation rules, click here.
EL USO DEL PRETÉRITO/ THE USE OF THE PRETERIT
1. The preterite tense is used to report the beginning or the end of an action.
EXAMPLES
Ana abrió la puerta y salió volando./ Ana opened the door and left swiftly.
Esta mañana empezó a llover./ This morning it started to rain.
2. The Spanish preterite has 2 equivalents in English.
EXAMPLE
Llovió ayer. |
It rained yesterday. It did rain yesterday. |
NOTE: There is NO equivalent for the English auxiliary did. Therefore, to formulate a question in preterite tense, the subject and the verb are inverted or the interrogative intonation is used.
EXAMPLE
¿Subió el interés? ¿El interés subió? |
Did the interest increase? |
3. The preterite can be used to interrupt an action in the imperfect tense (IT).
EXAMPLE
Trabajábamos (IT) intensamente cuando anunciaron los despidos masivos./ We were working intensely when they announced the massive lay-offs.
CASOS IRREGULARES/ IRREGULAR CASES
1. In order to preserve the sound of the infinitive, regular verbs that end in -car, -gar, and -zar have spelling changes in the first person (yo) as follows:
Change |
EXAMPLES |
|
Infinitive |
Preterit |
|
c to qu |
buscar/ to look for |
busqué/ I looked for |
sacar/ to pull out |
saqué/ I pulled out |
|
atacar/ to attack |
ataqué/ I attacked |
|
g to gu |
llegar/ to arrive |
llegué/ I arrived |
pagar/ to pay |
pagué/ I paid |
|
apagar/ to turn-off |
apagué/ I turned-off |
|
z to c |
empezar/ to start |
empecé/ I started |
comenzar/ to commence |
comencé/ I commenced |
|
almorzar/ to eat lunch |
almorcé/ I ate lunch |
|
2. Verbs ending in vowel + ir and vowel + er, such as caer/ to fall, the preterite ending -ió (which is for él, ella, Ud.) and -ieron (which is for ellos, Uds.), change to -yó and -yeron respectively.
EXAMPLES
Infinitive |
él, ella, Ud. |
ellos, Uds. |
leer/ to read |
leyó (leyó) |
leyeron |
oír/ to hear |
oyó |
oyeron |
caer/ to fall |
cayó |
cayeron |
construir/ construct |
construyó |
construyeron |
Other verbs: contribuir/ to contribute, destruir/ to destroy, incluir/ to include, atribuir/ to attribute, creer/ to believe, huir/ to run away. |
||
3. The following examples have irregular endings for yo and Ud. The endings are -e and -o instead of -í and -ió. NOTE: NO written accent is required.
EXAMPLES
Infinitive |
yo |
Ud. |
andar/ to go, to walk |
anduve |
anduvo |
caber/ to be contained |
cupe |
cupo |
estar/ to be |
estuve |
estuvo |
hacer/ to make |
hice |
hizo |
haber/ to have (auxiliary) |
hube |
hubo |
poder/ to be able, can |
pude |
pudo |
poner/ to put |
puse |
puso |
saber/ to know |
supe |
supo |
tener/ to have |
tuve |
tuvo |
querer/ to want |
quise |
quiso |
venir/ to come |
vine |
vino |
4. Verbs that end in -decir and -ducir, j is used as follows:
EXCEPTION: The verb traer/ to bring is in this category.
EXAMPLES
Pronoun |
decir/ to tell |
reducir/ to reduce |
traer/ to bring |
yo/ I |
dije |
reduje |
traje |
tú/ you |
dijiste |
redujiste |
trajiste |
él, ella, Ud./ he, she, you |
dijo |
redujo |
trajo |
nos./ we |
dijimos |
redujimos |
trajimos |
vos./you |
dijisteis |
redujisteis |
trajisteis |
ellos, Uds./ they, you |
dijeron |
redujeron |
trajeron |