El Preterito Time: Key Phrases: Structure: Simple tense refers to specific, completed past actions Key Phrases: Certain time (last night, yesterday at 4:00, last July 4th) certain number of times (once, 3 times) Structure: Simple tense verb stem + ending

The Preterite Tense Fixed point in time Specific number of actions I called you at 3:00 Specific number of actions I called you five times Enclosed amount of time I worked for eight hours.

Sometimes time is implied rather than stated. I went to John’s party. We ate at McDonald’s. The meeting was boring In the first 2 sentences, it is implied that the action happened once. in the 3rd, we can assume that the meeting, from beginning to end, was boring.

Forming regular verbs in the preterite. -ar verbs. Drop the –ar and add the following endings -amos -aron -é -aste -ó hablar (I spoke, you spoke, he spoke) nosotros hablamos ellos hablaron yo hablé tú hablaste él habló

-er and –ir verbs. Drop the –er or –ir and add the following endings -imos -ieron -í -iste -ió vivir (I lived, you lived, he lived) comer (I ate, you ate, he ate) nosotros vivimos ellos vivieron yo comí tú comiste él comió yo viví tú viviste él vivió nosotros comimos ellos comieron

Orthographic Changes in Regular Verbs (Crazy yo’s!) verbs ending in gar; insert u before the e yo llegué verbs ending in car; change c to qu yo busqué verbs ending in zar; change z to c. yo almorcé