1.5.

1 Review: Oh the Places You've Been

Review
Owen Reiss

Spanish II Sem 2 (S2396038)

Date: ____________

Isnt it amazing how much you have learned so far? Now you can express emotions, describe things, tell stories
and talk about yourself and your family in the past tense, among other exciting new knowledge you possess.
Let's take a more careful look at some of the concepts you've recently learned before you move on to the test.

1. Regular verbs: past tense endings

Lets review again the endings of past tense regular verbs:

Preterite
AR

ER / IR

amos

imos

aste

asteis

iste

isteis

aron

ieron

Imperfect
AR

ER / IR

aba

bamos

amos

abas

abais

as

ais

aba

aban

an

2. Irregular verbs: stem and spelling changes in the preterite

E to I Stem Change
You already know that many of the verbs in the preterite have stem changes. They changed from an e in the
root (the part before the endings) to an i, but only in the third person.

Pedir To ask for something

yo

ped

nosotros

pedimos

pediste

vosotros

pedistis

l/ella/Ud.

pidi

ellos/ellas/ustedes

pidieron

Here is a list of verbs following E to I stem changes:

despedirse

to say goodbye

seguir

to follow

repetir

to repeat

preferir

to prefer

servir

to serve

mentir

to lie

pedir

to ask for

conseguir

to get

EIE Stem Change Lets have a look!

Another irregular form of the preterite is the verbs with a spelling change where the pronunciation stays the
same. If i falls between two vowels in an ending, it must change to a y. It happens just in the 3rd person
singular and plural.

LeerTo Read
yo le

nosotros lemos

t leste

vosotros lesteis

l/ella/Usted ley

ellos/ellas/ustedes leyeron

Other verbs following this rule:

caerse

to fall down

oir

to hear

leer

to read

contribuir

to contribute

construir

to construct

influir

to influence

destruir

to destroy

creer

to believe

3. Two more irregular forms: U and J

There are certain verbs that include a u in their stem change and they have an unique irregular root that stays
consistent throughout the forms (i.e. estarestuv). The endings are all the same (doesnt matter if the verbs
was er, -ar, or -ir) and accents are not needed.

Endings
yo e

nosotros imos

t iste

vosotros isteis

l/ella/usted o

ellos/ellas/ustedes ieron

Estar Estuv
yo estuve

nosotros estuvimos

t estuviste

vosotros estuvisteis

l/ella/usted estuvo

ellos/ellas/ustedes estuvieron

Other verbs following this rule:

Spanish Meaning

Stem

English Meaning

tener

tuv

To have

andar

anduv

To walk

poder

pud

To be able to

poner

pus

To put

saber

sup

To know

haber

hub

(only third person) There was, there were

There is another group of verbs that get a j added to the end of the root and that share almost the same endings
(note that the third person plural is not ieron but rather eron)

Conducirconduj
yo conduje

nosotros condujimos

t condujiste

vosotros condujisteis

l/ella/usted condujo

ellos/ellas/ustedes condujeron

Other verbs following this rule:

Spanish Meaning

Stem

English Meaning

producir

produj

To produce

traducir

traduj

To translate

traer

traj

To bring

decir

dij

(This one has a j stem and an e to i change)

4. Only irregular in the yo form: car, gar, zar

We have learned that the verbs ending in car, gar, and zar are irregulars only in the "yo" form and just the
spelling is irregular since the pronunciation remains as expected.
Yo form endings and examples:
car qu
dedicar dediqu
gar gu
jugar jugu
zar c
empezar empec
Other verbs that follows this rule:

Infinitive

Yo Form

ahogar

ahogu

llegar

llegu

practicar

practiqu

autorizar

autoric

almorzar

almorc

sacar

saqu

castigar

castigu

justificar

justifiqu

5. Preterite vs. imperfect

You already know that the preterite and the imperfect are used to talk about things that happened in the past
tense. The imperfect is usually used to talk about:
repeated habitual actions; background action or scene description
physical, mental, or emotional states
actions in progress (remember: when the action is interrupted we use the preterite)
We use the preterite to talk about actions that are completely finished (and that had a begining and an end.)
Some useful key words to identify the imperfect are:
siempre
nunca
todos los das
cada
mientras
For preterite:
ayer
la semana pasada
noche
el ao pasado
Remember that if you are interrupted doing something, the imperfect is used for whatever you were doing, and
the preterite is used for the interruption.
Mientras yo lea el texto, el gato comi el pez.

6. Ordinal numbers
When using ordinal numbers, after you get to 'tenth' you can simply use the numbers themselves instead of the
specific ordinal number. Ordinal numbers do exist after dcimo but using the regular numbers works just as
well.
first

primero

second

segundo

third

tercero

fourth

cuarto

fifth

quinto

sixth

sexto

seventh

sptimo

eighth

octavo

ninth

noveno

tenth

dcimo

7. Likes and Dislikes in the past tense

Do you remember how to form gustar and verbs like it? First, decide who is being pleased, disgusted, or
interested. This will tell you which pronouns to use.

To whom is it pleasing?

Use this pronoun:

a m (to me)

me

a ti (to you-familiar)

te

a l, a ella, a usted (to him, to her, to youformal)

le

a nosotros (to us)

nos

a vosotros (to you all-familiar)

os

a ellos, a ellas, a ustedes (to them, to them, to you all-formal)

les

Then, decide whats provoking the interest, disgust, or pleasure. This will tell you which form of gustar to use,
third person singular or third person plural. Now we will apply all this to the preterite and imperfect tenses of the
verb gustar.
Preterite is used when talking about something that was very briefly pleasing.

Whats doing the pleasing?

Use this verb form:

los zapatos (the shoes)

gustaron, interesaron, ofendieron

la camisa (the shirt)

gust, interes, ofendi

The imperfect should be used when you're talking about what you used to like or dislike.

Whats doing the pleasing?

Use this verb form:

el libro de matemticas (the math book)

gustaba, interesaba, ofenda

las papas fritas

gustaban, interesaban, ofendan

8. Writing a story: prepositional phrases

Now when we write a story, we can use some prepositional phrases that help us create suspense, keep the

story moving, and make it more interesting. Lets review some of them:

En espaol

In English

al final

at the end

de repente

suddenly

al contrario

to the contrary

por fin

finally

despus de (todo) lo ocurrido

after (everything)

ms tarde

later

dentro de un rato

within a little while

por lo menos

at least

al ver que

upon seeing that

antes de

before

sin darse cuenta

without realizing it

alrededor de

around

con silencio

silently

9. Emotions and physical descriptions in the past tense

We use the imperfect to talk about emotions and physical descriptions in the past tense. What about if you
suddenly became frustrated, angry, sad or happy? Then we need to use the preterite. We use the following
verbs in the imperfect:
estar to describe how you were or felt at that time.
tener expressions like tener hambre (to be hungry), tener miedo (to be scared), tener sed (to be thirsty),
tener sueo (to be sleepy), etc.

10. Reflexive verbs in the past tense

We already know that reflexive verbs, with the exception of a few, are things that you do to yourself. You can
use these verbs in the past tense; however, we have to pay attention to some stem-changing verbs when using
the preterite:

Dormirse
yo me dorm

nosotros nos dormimos

t te dormiste

vosotros os dormisteis

l, ella, usted se durmi

ellos, ellas, ustedes se durmieron

Sentirse
yo me sent

nosotros nos sentimos

t te sentiste

vosotros os sentisteis

l, ella, usted se sinti

ellos, ellas, ustedes se sintieron

Vestirse
yo me vest

nosotros nos vestimos

t te vestiste

vosotros os vestisteis

l, ella, usted se visti

ellos, ellas, ustedes se vistieron

Here you have a list of the most common reflexive verbs:

baarse

to bathe oneself

ducharse

to shower oneself

levantarse

to get oneself up

cepillarse

to brush oneself

lavarse

to wash oneself

peinarse

to comb oneself

secarse

to dry oneself

acostarse

to get in bed

maquillarse

to put makeup on oneself

vestirse

to get oneself dressed

Are you ready?

Youve learned so many new things about the past tense in Spanish! Review any additional material that you
may not be comfortable with to be fully prepared for your test.

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