Spelling changes in the preterite i → y -car, -gar, -zar verbs
i → y Verbs that have a vowel at the end of the stem have a spelling change in the preterite Leer: leí, leíste, leyó (not leió), leímos, leísteis, leyeron (not leieron) Construir: construí, construiste, construyó (not construió), construimos, construisteis, construyeron (not construieron) Why?! --- i is a weak vowel and when it is next to an e, a, or u it blends in and sounds more like a y
Act. 4, p. 226 Escribir con compañero
¿Cómo se dice…? …the él/ella form of “buscar” in the preterite? …the yo form of “buscar” in the preterite? How do you pronounce this word? buscé It’s a “soft” c. To make a “hard” c you must add qu. busqué
¿Cómo se dice…? …the él/ella form of “pagar” in the preterite? …the yo form of “pagar” in the preterite? How do you pronounce this word? pagé It’s a “soft” g. To make a “hard” g you must add a u. pagué
¿Cómo se dice…? …the él/ella form of “empezar” in the preterite? …the yo form of “empezar” in the preterite? How do you pronounce this word? empezé “ze” is not allowed in Spanish**, so it changes to… empecé **It has to do with the development from Latin; “z” is borrowed from Greek.
This change happens only in the yo form. -car → -qué -gar → -gué -zar → -cé
Think about English Some words change spelling when in the past tense You panic. (present) You panicked. (past) I commit. I committed. Look at page 227 for more information
¡A trabajar! Página 228, actividad 5