Spanish AR Verbs in the Preterite Tense

Spanish AR Verbs in the Preterite Tense

Preterite Tense?

The preterite tense (we also call it the past tense) is used to express an action that began and ended at a particular time in the past.

An example in English would be, "I WATCHED the Goonies last weekend."

Another example in English, "I TRAVELED back in time to November 5, 1955 in a Delorean."

Preterite

• WATCHED is the preterite, or past tense, form of watch

• TRAVELED is the preterite, or past tense, form of travel.

Multiple Choice

The preterite tense refers to the...

• Present

• Past

• Future

Multiple Choice

The preterite tense is used to refer to ___________ actions in the past

• completed

• incompleted

Multiple Choice

How to know when to use the preterite tense?

• If it happened long time ago

• If it happened many times in the past

• If it is happening right now

• If it began and ended at a particular time in the past

Multiple Choice

Which is the correct preterite form in English?

I _____________ this letter two months ago

• am writing

• write

• written

• wrote

Multiple Choice

Which is the correct preterite form in English?

We ___________ London last year

• are visit

• visits

• visited

• were visiting

Preterite Tense Identifiers

• There are key words we can look for to help use know we are using the preterite tense...for example:

• Ayer, yo hablè con mi hermano.

• Yesterday, I talked to my brother.

• To the right is a list of helpful words that indicate we are to use the preterite tense.

Multiple Choice

Yesterday in Spanish

• ayer

• anoche

Multiple Choice

Last night in Spanish:

• la semana pasada

• anoche

Multiple Choice

Last week in Spanish

• la semana pasada

• mañana

Multiple Choice

2 days ago in Spanish:

• los dos libros

• hace dos dìas

Preterite AR endings

• We follow the same pattern in the preterite as we do for the present tense.

• Remember, for AR verbs in the present tense like TALK, LOOK, AND EXPLAIN: O, AS, A, AMOS, AN

• It's a 2 step process of removing the AR and the adding the appropriate ending in it's place.

• But, the preterite endings are as follows:

Sample Verb:

HABLAR

Irregular YO Spellings: car, gar, zar

• For verbs ending in -car, change to -què: Marcar -> marquè

• For verbs ending in -gar, change to -guè: Pagar -> paguè

• For verbs ending in -zar, change to -cè: Lanzar -> lancè

Multiple Choice

Conjugate gritar (yo)

• grito

• gritas

• grite

• grité

Multiple Choice

Conjugate besar (mi primo)

• beso

• besó

• besa

• besaste

Multiple Choice

Conjugate caminar (Uds.)

• caminas

• caminan

• caminaron

• camináis

Multiple Choice

Conjugate ganar (nosotros)

• ganais

• ganamos

• ganaron

• ganámos

Multiple Choice

Conjugate trabajar (yo)

• trabaja

• trabajo

• trabajá

• trabajé

Multiple Choice

Conjugate cantar (nosotros)

• cantais

• canté

• cantamos

• cantaron

Multiple Choice

Conjugate visitar (yo)

• visitaste

• visita

• visito

• visité

Multiple Choice

Conjugate descansar (ellos)

• descansó

• descansaron

• descansan

• descansáis

Multiple Choice

Conjugate hablar (tú)

• hablas

• habló

• hablaste

• hablais