Preterite (or past) Tense Septiembre 19, 2012 Span II Srta. Lobozzo

The preterite tense is used to describe actions or states that were completed at a definite time in the past The preterite of regular verbs is formed by dropping the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and adding the preterite endings

-ar and –er verbs that have a stem change in the present are regular in the preterite Jugar (u: ue) Él jugó al fútbol ayer. Volver (o: ue) Ellos volvieron tarde anoche -ir verbs that have a stem change in the present tense also have a stem change in the preterite Pedir (e:i) La semana pasada, él pidío tacos.

¡Ojo! The preterite past tense represents an action that is located in a specific point on a time line and is considered a completed action (done). It is always used when listing a series of consecutive actions Él llamó a su novia, salió de la casa y manejó al cine.

It is also used for when you begin, finish or become something Note: the preterite is NOT used to describe an existing emotional state. In that case we would use a different past tense which is called the imperfect past tense Empezó a llorar. Terminó el examen Me puse enojada He was angry