Preterit Tense for Irregular VerbsSeñor Jackson

Irregular Verbs

•The Spanish language is full of irregular verbs.

•These verbs are often irregular in all conjugation forms.

•SER and IR are irregular verbs

•Let’s investigate others!

Stem Changers in the Preterit Tense

•Some verbs take a new stem in the preterit tense.

•These verbs are categorized into 4 separate groups.

Irregular Endings

•The irregular verbs also take an irregular set of endings

•They come from a combination of the –AR and –ER/-IR endings

e imosiste isteis o ieron

I - Stems

Group 1: I-Stems

•I-Stem changing verbs take an “I” in the preterit tense.

•These verbs include:▫Hacer ▫Querer▫Venir

Hacer•The verb “hacer” changes to “Hic__”

hicehiciste

hicimos

hicisteis

hicieronhizo• The 3rd person singular box has an

additional change. It takes a “z” to keep the same sound.

Querer•Querer changes to “Quis__” in the preterit

tense. The meaning also changes. “To try and succeed and to try and refuse”

Quise QuisimosQuisiste Quisisteis Quiso Quisieron

Venir•Venir changes to “Vin__”

Vine VinimosViniste Vinisteis Vino Vinieron

J – Stems

Group 2: J-Stems

•The next group of verbs take a “j” in the stem.

•These verbs include:▫Decir▫Traer▫-cir verbs

Decir•Decir is both a J-stem and an I-stem. Therefore, it changes to “Dij__”

dije dijimosdijiste dijisteis dijo

dijeron

Traer•Traer is also a J-stem. It changes to

“Traj__”

traje trajimostrajiste trajisteis trajo

trajeron

-cir verbs•Verbs that end in –cir are J-stems also.

•Some of these verbs include:▫Producir▫Conducir▫Decir (as we already know )

U - Stems

Group 3: U-Stems

•The next group of verbs take a “u” in the stem.

•The U-stems include:▫Poder▫Poner▫Saber

Poder•Poder stem changes to “Pud__”. It also has

a new meaning in the preterit: “to try and could or to try and fail.”

pude pudimospudiste pudisteis pudo pudieron

Poner•The stem change for Poner is “Pus__”.

puse pusimospusiste pusisteis puso pusieron

Saber•Saber changes to “Sup__” in the preterit tense.

It’s meaning changes to “to just learn/find out”

Supe SupimosSupiste Supisteis Supo Supieron

V - stems

Group 4: V-stems

•The final group of verbs take a “v” in the preterit tense.

•These verbs include:▫Andar▫Estar▫Tener

Andar• Andar changes to “Anduv__” in the preterit tense.

anduve anduvimosanduviste anduvisteis anduvo anduvieron

Estar•Estar changes to “Estuv__” in the preterit

tense.

estuve estuvimosestuviste estuvisteis estuvo estuvieron

Tener•The verb “tener” stem changes to

“Tuv__”.

tuve tuvimostuviste tuvisteis tuvo tuvieron