Learn how to form the first-person singular form of the Spanish preterit tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: Tell Me in Spanish What You Did Yesterday! I’m Fernando and I’m joined by JP. JP, what’s going on, man? |
| JP: Hey, Fernando, not much. It’s time for a great new SpanishPod101.com lesson. How are you doing by the way? |
| Fernando: I’m good, thanks! |
| JP: Okay. Tell us what we’re gonna talk about today. |
| Fernando: In this lesson, you will learn about the preterit tense in the first person. The conversation takes place at a restaurant. The conversation takes place between Davidico and the waitress. The speakers will be using the formal register. |
| JP: All right. Let’s listen to this conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Lesson Conversation + Translation |
| (1 time natural native speed, 1 time slowly, 1 time with translation) |
| (1 time natural native speed) |
| Davidico:Oiga, ¿qué es esto? |
| Mesera:Su sopa de tomate... |
| Davidico:Pero pedí un café con leche... |
| Mesera:Perdón, señor, me equivoqué. |
| English Host: Let’s hear it again, dramatic speed. |
| Davidico:Oiga, ¿qué es esto? |
| Mesera:Su sopa de tomate... |
| Davidico:Pero pedí un café con leche... |
| Mesera:Perdón, señor, me equivoqué. |
| English Host: One more time with the translation. |
| Davidico: Oiga, ¿qué es esto? |
| JP: Excuse me, what's this? |
| Mesera: Su sopa de tomate... |
| JP: Your tomato soup. |
| Davidico: Pero pedí un café con leche... |
| JP: But I ordered a latte. |
| Mesera: Perdón, señor, me equivoqué. |
| JP: Sorry, sir; I made a mistake. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: We’re back and we have the fly in the soup situation going on. |
| Fernando: I guess, yeah. It seems the waitress messed up the order. |
| JP: Right. It’s just not an actual fly in the soup, but it’s just one of those restaurant situations where he didn’t order tomato soup at all. He says, “Hey, what’s this?” |
| Fernando: Oiga, ¿qué es esto? |
| JP: “Hey, what’s this?” Oiga is like “hey.” |
| Fernando: Excuse me, yes. It’s a way to gain someone’s attention. |
| JP: Oiga. And then he says, ¿qué es esto? |
| Fernando: ¿Qué es esto? “What’s this?” |
| JP: And the waitress says “It’s your tomato soup.” |
| Fernando: Su sopa de tomate... |
| JP: Su sopa de tomate… You know what, I love tomato soup. |
| Fernando: It’s very good. It’s very healthy. |
| JP: But Davidico didn’t order it. |
| Fernando: Apparently not. |
| JP: He says, “But I ordered a latte.” |
| Fernando: Pero pedí un café con leche. |
| JP: Café con leche, this is literally “coffe with milk.” |
| Fernando: Exactly. |
| JP: And he says I ordered it, pedí un café con leche. And the waitress says, “Oh, sorry, sir, I made a mistake.” |
| Fernando: Perdón, señor, me equivoqué. |
| JP: Let’s take a closer look at some of the vocabulary in this dialogue. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando: Oiga... [natural native speed] |
| JP: Hey..., Excuse me... |
| Fernando: Oiga... [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: Oiga... [natural native speed] |
| Fernando: pedir [natural native speed] |
| JP: to ask for, to request |
| Fernando: pedir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: pedir [natural native speed] |
| Fernando: perdón [natural native speed] |
| JP: pardon |
| Fernando: perdón [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: perdón [natural native speed] |
| Fernando: equivocarse [natural native speed] |
| JP: to make a mistake, to get (something) wrong |
| Fernando: equivocarse [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: equivocarse [natural native speed] |
| Fernando: ¿Qué es esto? [natural native speed] |
| JP: What is this? |
| Fernando: ¿Qué es esto? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ¿Qué es esto? [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| JP: Okay. Now, that we’ve heard some of these words in isolation, let’s have a conversation about what they mean. |
| Fernando: I think we should start with oiga! |
| JP: “Hey!” Right? Excuse me? All right, there’s times in the restaurant when the waitress or the waiter are not paying attention to you and you need to get their attention to flag them down. |
| Fernando: Yeah, you raise your hand and you’re like, Oiga! |
| JP: Oiga! This is the verb oír, which means “to hear” and this form, oiga, is the formal imperative. Now, this is a lot of grammar for you to know and that you just really want the waitress to pay attention to you, right? |
| Fernando: Right, exactly. |
| JP: Okay. So, just put your hand in the air and say, oiga. It’s polite, right? It’s not… |
| Fernando: It’s polite. It’s in the formal register. |
| JP: Okay, oiga, muy bien. What’s next? |
| Fernando: ¿Qué es esto? |
| JP: ¿Qué es esto? Now, this is a question that’s very useful for absolute beginners of Spanish. It means, ¿Qué es esto? “What is this?” ¿Qué es esto? Now, you can use it, you know, if you’re wondering what something is, you can point to something and say ¿Qué es esto?, right? |
| Fernando: ¿Qué es esto? ¿Qué es eso? “What is this?” “What is that?” |
| JP: But Davidico is not using it that way. He knows what it is. |
| Fernando: He knows what it is. I mean, unless, you know, the tomato is really rotten and it comes out brown. |
| JP: He’s not having problems identifying what it is, but he says it out of like… |
| Fernando: It’s a rhetorical question. |
| JP: Exactly. He can’t believe it. He’s kind of stunned that he got, “What is this?” |
| Fernando: What is this? What’s going on here? |
| JP: So, it’s exasperation or incredulity. |
| Fernando: Right. |
| JP: ¿Qué es esto? |
| Fernando: Because… so the next word is pedir. |
| JP: Pedir “to ask for” or “to request.” In a restaurant situation, you can use pedir to mean “to order.” |
| Fernando: Right. |
| JP: pedir |
| Fernando: [*] |
| JP: “I need to order some tomato soup.” Pedir “to ask” or “to request.” What’s next? |
| Fernando: perdón |
| JP: Perdón. Perdón means “sorry,” right? And it’s just like English word, pardon. |
| Fernando: Mm-hmm. |
| JP: Now, you can use it to apologize for something, but you can also just use it to get somebody’s attention. Perdón |
| Fernando: [*] |
| JP: Yeah. It’s funny because here in the studio, we’re raising our hands and say, Perdón! We’re trying to get somebody’s attention. |
| Fernando: Right. |
| JP: They can’t see it because it’s a podcast. |
| Fernando: They can’t see it, exactly. Unless you can hear our waving. |
| JP: Yes, we are definitely demonstrating with our hands. Perdón! Okay. |
| Fernando: The last one, equivocarse. |
| JP: Equivocarse. Now, this is a reflexive verb that’s got that -se at the end, to mean oneself. Equivocarse all together means “to make a mistake” or “to get (something) wrong.” |
| Fernando: [*] |
| JP: Yeah, the waitress made a mistake. She made a mistake and she says “I made a mistake.” |
| Fernando: Me equivoqué. |
| JP: Me equivoqué. Now, that is a first person preterit, which is exactly what we’re gonna be talking about in the grammar section. |
| Fernando: Which starts now. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| JP: Now, this is absolute beginner, so we’re not gonna get too technical about grammar. But I do wanna talk about the preterit tense, which is the past tense for simple actions in the past. |
| Fernando: Mm-hmm. |
| JP: And we’re only gonna talk about the first person singular. So, for any given verb in Spanish, it’s like saying “I did it.” For example, “I ordered.” |
| Fernando: Yo pedí. |
| JP: Yo pedí, okay. So, Davidico actually says this when he says “But I ordered a latte.” |
| Fernando: Pero pedí un café con leche. |
| JP: Okay. Now, the verb is pedir, means “to order,” “to ask for.” Davidico says pedí and when you hear that -í in pedí, you know that it’s the past tense. You know that he did it. In this case, he ordered. He says, “But I ordered…” |
| Fernando: Pero pedí… |
| JP: Mm-hmm, un café con leche. Now, pedir is an -ir verb and all regular -er and -ir verbs are gonna have that -í ending. For example, my favorite verb is “to eat.” |
| Fernando: comer |
| JP: Comer. So, “I ate.” |
| Fernando: Yo comí. |
| JP: Yo comí. |
| Fernando: Mm-hmm. |
| JP: Okay. How about the verb “to write.” |
| Fernando: escribir |
| JP: Escribir. “I wrote.” |
| Fernando: Yo escribí. |
| JP: Yo escribí. Okay. |
| Fernando: Mm-hmm. |
| JP: Did you hear that -í at the end? So, pedí, escribí, comí, all those are first person preterit. I did those things. |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: Okay. Now, most words in Spanish are -ar verbs, and -ar verbs are gonna end in an -é. |
| Fernando: Mm-hmm. |
| JP: So, for example, let’s take the verb “to dance.” |
| Fernando: bailar |
| JP: Bailar. How about “I dance”? |
| Fernando: Yo bailé. |
| JP: Bailé. Did you hear that -é at the end of bailé? |
| Fernando: I did. You’re right next to me. |
| JP: So, bailé. How about “to take” or “to drink”? |
| Fernando: tomar |
| JP: Tomar, okay. “I drink.” |
| Fernando: Yo tomé. |
| JP: Yo tomé. How about “to judge”? |
| Fernando: juzgar |
| JP: Juzgar and “I judge.” |
| Fernando: Yo juzgué. |
| JP: Yo juzgué. Okay, so we have juzgué, tomé, bailé, they all end in -é and it all means “I did (something).” I danced, I drink, I judged. |
| Fernando: I judged. Yeah. In judge however, there’s also -u after the -g. |
| JP: Yes, to keep that -g sound hard. It’s still juzgué, right? |
| Fernando: Right, exactly. |
Outro |
|---|
| JP: All right folks, that’s it for today! We’ll see you all in the comment section. ¡Hasta luego! |
| Fernando: ¡Adiós! |
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