Two reasons why the pretérito indefinido is so awesome
1) The pretérito indefinido allows us to talk about what we did in the past, which, if you’re a beginner, is such an exciting rite of passage. Not longer are you confined to talking in the present tense. You can finally say yesterday I ate enchiladas for lunch!
2) The pretérito indefinido has an amazing diversity of verb forms. This might not sound so awesome at first, but, as you become more familiar with it, you will start to love the way it works. There are regular verbs, irregular verbs and irregular verbs that are ... well ... actually quite regular (more on this below).
In this blog we look at how to conjugate this verb tense, as well as a guide to a few common verbs and their pronunciation to help you along.
A note on pronunciation ...
Although pronunciation differs from country to country (and even town to town!), Spanish has two main variants: the Spanish that is spoken in Central and Northern Spain, known as Castilian in English (from Castile where the language was born), and the Spanish that is spoken in Southern Spain, the Canary Islands and Hispanic America, referred to in English as Atlantic Spanish.
The audio that accompanies each verb may contain two versions of the pronunciation, Castilian Spanish and Atlantic Spanish, the difference being:
Castilian: the sound (soft) TH – used for Z before A, O, U and C before E, I (tha, tho, thu, the, thi – the TH sound is soft like in THING)
Atlantic: the sound S used for all the above (sa, so, su, se, si)
Verb forms and phrases with words that differ in pronunciation in this way are marked with an asterix (*).
A technical note for users of Safari
If you're a Safari user, you may have some trouble playing the audio as there is a problem with Soundcloud's compatibilty with Apple apps.
If you don't hear any audio, click into the timeline to start playback.
Verbos regulares
CENAR*
| verb forms | pronunciation |
|
cené* cenaste* cenó* cenamos* cenasteis* cenaron* |
ce–né ce–nas–te ce–nó ce–na–mos ce–nas–teis ce–na–ron |
| Anoche cené con Alberto y Juan en su casa* | Last night I had dinner with Alberto and Juan at their place |
COMER
| verb forms | pronunciation |
|
comí comiste comió comimos comisteis comieron |
co–mí co–mis–te co–mió co–mi–mos co–mis–teis co–mie–ron |
| Comimos demasiado en la fiesta del sábado | We had too much to eat at the party on Saturday |
SALIR
| verb froms | pronunciation |
|
salí saliste salió salimos salisteis salieron |
sa–lí sa–lis–te sa–lió sa–li–mos sa–lis–teis sa–lie–ron |
| ¿A qué hora saliste del trabajo anoche? | What time did you get out of work last night? |
Note that SALIR is regular in el pretérito indefinido but irregular in the present tense (remember salgo..?)
Verbos irregulares
ESTAR
| verb forms | pronunciation |
|
estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvisteis estuvieron |
es–tu–ve es–tu–vis–te es–tu–vo es–tu–vi–mos es–tu–vis–teis es–tu–vie–ron |
| Estuve en Costa Rica en septiembre del año pasado | I was in Costa Rica in September last year |
IR / SER
| verb forms | pronunciation |
|
fui fuiste fue fuimos fuisteis fueron |
fui fuis–te fue fui–mos fuis–teis fue–ron |
Yes, that's right: IR and SER both have exactly the same forms in the pretérito indefinido!
| Fui a la playa el año pasado | I went to the beach last year |
| Fui profesor durante 10 años | I was a teacher for 10 years |
VER
| verb forms | pronunciation |
|
vi viste vio vimos visteis vieron |
vi vis–te vio vi–mos vis–teis vie–ron |
| ¿Visteis alguna película en el festival de cine?* | Did you guys see any films in the film festival? |
TENER
| verb forms | pronunciation |
|
tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvisteis tuvieron |
tu–ve tu–vis–te tu–vo tu–vi–mos tu–vis–teis tu–vie–ron |
| Y luego el domingo tuve un dolor de cabeza tremendo* | And then on Sunday I had the worst headache ever |
HACER*
| verb forms | pronunciation |
|
hice* hiciste* hizo* hicimos* hicisteis* hicieron* |
hi–ce hi–cis–te hi–zo hi–ci–mos hi–cis–teis hi–cie–ron |
| Hicieron espaguetis y luego de postre una tarta de queso ... mmm ¡qué rico!* | They made spaguetti and then cheesecake for dessert... mmm so yummy! |
Regular irregulars!
Even though so many of the verb forms for the pretérito indefinido are irregular, thankfully a lot of the irregular verbs follow patterns.
For example, ESTAR and TENER both follow the same pattern (both have –uv– in the stem):
| estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvisteis estuvieron |
tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvisteis tuvieron |
Other verbs that follow this same pattern are ANDAR and any other verb than ends in –TENER (OBTENER, MANTENER, CONTENER, etc.)
Another example are verbs that follow the same pattern as HACER, such as VENIR (both have –i– in the stem):
| hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicisteis hicieron |
vine viniste vino vinimos vinisteis vinieron |
These are just a couple of examples to whet your appetite... there are many, many more!
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By Craig Burgess, images Penelope Ray
November 22, 2017
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