Spanish/Lessons/El tiempo pasado

This section of the Spanish wikibook discusses the Spanish past tense. You have presumably learned about the present tense, therefore this section assumes a knowledge of said tense and previously learned vocabulary. La formación del pretérito The preterite is used to speak of an event that happened at a specific time (I went to Sallly's (yesterday)). First, we must learn the preterite tense, is used for past actions that are seen as completed. There are two different forms of the preterite, one for -ar verbs and a separate form for -er and -ir verbs. Los verbos regulares del pretérito: -ar Let us learn some conjugation for regular -ar verbs in the preterite now. For example: El pretérito - ejemplos de verbos -ar cantar (to sing) Singular Plural 1st person canté cantamos 2nd person cantaste cantasteis 3rd person cantó cantaron nadar (to swim) Singular Plural 1st person nadé nadamos 2nd person nadaste nadasteis 3rd person nadó nadaron Notice the pattern: in each form, you must drop the "ar" in the infinitive form. For the first person singular, you add "-é", for the second person singular you add "-aste", for the third it is "-ó". As for plural, in the first person "-amos" is added, in the second "-asteis", and in the third we add "-aron". On to the exercises... Los verbos regulares del pretérito: -er e -ir Now, we will learn the conjugation for regular -er and -ir verbs. For example: El pretérito - ejemplos de los verbos -er e -ir beber (to drink) Singular Plural 1st person bebí bebimos 2nd person bebiste bebisteis 3rd person bebió bebieron vivir (to live) Singular Plural 1st person viví vivimos 2nd person viviste vivisteis 3rd person vivió vivieron Notice the pattern: in each form, you must drop the "er" or "ir" in the infinitive form. For the first person singular, you add "-í", for the second person singular you add "-iste", for the third it is "-ió". As for plural, in the first person "-imos" is added, in the second "-isteis", and in the third we add "-ieron". On to the exercises... Los verbos con cambios de deletreo en la forma "yo": '-car', '-gar', '-zar' There are also verbs that have a spelling change in the first person singular form. These changes occur in verbs that end in "car", "gar", or "zar" and, in the first two cases, are necessary in order to maintain the original sound of the written verb (in speaking, we tend to pronounce the word correctly without having to think about it). As explained in the "Alfabeto" section, both "c" and "g" have a 'hard' sound before an "a", "o" or "u", and a soft sound before "e" and "i". In the first-person preterite, then, the "é" ending would change the 'k/' sound of the "c" to an 's/' sound, and the hard-g sound to the Spanish "j" sound. In order to maintain the original sound of the verb, we change the spelling. For a "-car" verb, we change the "c" to a "qu" when it comes before "é": practicar (to practice) Singular Plural 1st person practiqué practicamos 2nd person practicaste practicasteis 3rd person practicó practicaron Similarly, for a "-gar" verb, we add a "u" after the "g": llegar (to arrive) Singular Plural 1st person llegué llegamos 2nd person llegaste llegasteis 3rd person llegó llegaron For "-zar" verbs, there is no longer a change in pronunciation, but tradition calls for the letter "z" to be followed only by "a", "o" or "u". With a following "e" or "i", we change the "z" to a "c": comenzar (to begin) Singular Plural 1st person comencé comenzamos 2nd person comenzaste comenzasteis 3rd person comenzó comenzaron On to the exercises... Ejercicios del pretérito These exercises take what we have learned so far and integrate everything together. Be familiar with the first three sections of el tiempo pasado. On to the exercises... La formación del imperfecto The imperfect tense is used to refer to actions in the past that occurred repeatedly. E.g. I used to play with dolls. These have an indefinite time. It's often used to describe past behaviours and likes, especially of childhood. La formación del imperfecto: los verbos -ar Just as with the preterite, in the imperfect construction -ar verbs receive their own conjugation. For example: El pretérito - ejemplos de los verbos -ar hablar (to speak) Singular Plural 1st person hablaba hablábamos 2nd person hablabas hablabais 3rd person hablaba hablaban cantar (to sing) Singular Plural 1st person cantaba cantábamos 2nd person cantabas cantabais 3rd person cantaba cantaban Notice the pattern: in the imperfect construction we drop the "ar" and add our endings. As for the singular, in the first person we add "-aba", in the second person we add "-abas", and in the third person we add "-aba". In the plural, for the first person we add "-ábamos" (with an accent), for the second person we add "-abais", and in the third we add "-aban". Onto the exercises... La formación del imperfecto: los verbos -er e -ir Just as in the preterite, the -er and -ir verbs have their own conjugation. For example: El pretérito - ejemplos de los verbos -er e -ir correr (to run) Singular Plural 1st person corría corríamos 2nd person corrías corríais 3rd person corría corrían asistir (to attend) Singular Plural 1st person asistía asistíamos 2nd person asistías asistíais 3rd person asistía asistían Notice the pattern: in the imperfect construction we drop the "er" or "ir" and add our endings. As for the singular, in the first person we add "-ía", in the second person we add "-ías", and in the third person we add "-ía". In the plural, for the first person we add "-íamos" (with an accent), for the second person we add "-íais", and in the third we add "-ían". Onto the exercises... Los verbos irregulares en la forma de imperfecto: 'ser', 'ir' y 'ver' Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect construction: ser, ir, and ver: ser (to be) Singular Plural First era éramos Second eras erais Third era eran ir (to go) Singular Plural First iba íbamos Second ibas ibais Third iba iban ver (to see) Singular Plural First veía veíamos Second veías veíais Third veía veían