Learn all about forming the Spanish preterit
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola, hola a todos, es Dylan. How are you? |
| Carlos: What’s going on Pod 101 world? My name is Carlos. Spanish Preterit - You didn’t make a reservation either? In this lesson you’ll learn about the preterit tense. |
| Dylan: This conversation takes place in a car. |
| Carlos: This conversation is between Pablo and Andrea. |
| Dylan: The speakers are friends, therefore the speakers will be speaking informally. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| PABLO: ¡Lo logramos! Ahora sí ¿en cuál hotel reservó usted? |
| ANDREA: ¿Hotel? ¡Quedamos que usted llamaba! |
| PABLO: No, no yo dije que... espere, si usted no reservó ni yo... ¿entonces? |
| ANDREA: ¡Entonces no tenemos donde dormir! |
| PABLO: Es imposible conseguir un cuarto en este mes. |
| ANDREA: Nos toca dormir en la playa o en el auto. |
| PABLO: We made it! Now then, in which hotel did you make our reservation? |
| ANDREA: Hotel? We agreed that you were going to call! |
| PABLO: No, no, I said that...hold on, if you didn't make a reservation and I didn't either...then? |
| ANDREA: Then we don't have anywhere to sleep! |
| PABLO: It's impossible to get a room this month. |
| ANDREA: We either have to sleep on the beach or in the car. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dylan: Yikes! High season is crazy here. |
| Carlos: Oh everywhere. I mean like “Semana Santa” is off the wall. |
| Dylan: Yeah you have to actually sleep on the beach or in your car. There’s nothing else. People reserve from the year before. |
| Carlos: Really? I didn’t know it was that serious. |
| Dylan: Yeah it’s a big deal here in “Semana Santa”. |
| Carlos: So guys if you want to come down here during high season or specially “Semana Santa” which is like second week in April right? |
| Dylan: It’s the Easter week. |
| Carlos: It’s the Easter week you’re going to have to make reservation about a year in advance to get a good room. |
| Dylan: Yeah, like to come for Christmas 2011 reserve now. |
| Carlos: For Christmas? |
| Dylan: Yeah, Christmas too! It’s High Season. |
| Carlos: ¿En serio? |
| Dylan: En serio. |
| Carlos: Wow! I… ok. |
| Dylan: Yeah, well… |
| Carlos: I don’t want a white Christmas. |
| Dylan: Tourism is the number one export of this country. |
| Carlos: Well now to the crisis. |
| Dylan: Well, yeah. Maybe, maybe it’s not that bad nowadays. |
| Carlos: Ok, guys. Let’s take a look at vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Lograr”. |
| Carlos: “To achieve”, “to manage.” |
| Dylan: “Lo-grar”, “lograr”. “Reservar”. |
| Carlos: “To book”, “to reserve”, “to save.” |
| Dylan: “Re-ser-var”, “reservar”. “Quedar”. |
| Carlos: “To stay put” , “to remain”, “to be located”, “to arrange. “ |
| Dylan: “Que-dar”, “quedar”. “Esperar”. |
| Carlos: “To expect”, “to wait”, “to hope.” |
| Dylan: “Es-pe-rar”, “esperar”. “Cuarto”. |
| Carlos: “Room.” |
| Dylan: “Cuar-to”, “cuarto”. “Playa”. |
| Carlos: “Beach”, “coastline.” |
| Dylan: “Pla-ya”, “playa”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Dylan: The first word we’ll look at is “lograr”. |
| Carlos: “Lograr”. “To achieve”, “manage.” |
| Dylan: Like Pablo and Andrea finally manage to get to the hotel. |
| Carlos: Yeah, they achieved their goal which then is no surprise when he says. |
| Dylan: “¡Lo logramos!” |
| Carlos: “We made it!” |
| Dylan: Or “we achieved it”. |
| Carlos: I like this verb it gives me a sense of accomplishment. |
| Dylan: I bet it does. |
| Carlos: Like if we talked about my friend Adriana. |
| Dylan: What about her? |
| Carlos: “Adriana logró sus objetivos. Ahora es una profesional”. |
| Dylan: “Adriana achieved her goals. Now she’s a professional.” |
| Carlos: You know, I like when people set goals and meet them. I get a warm and fuzzy feeling. |
| Dylan: Then. So then do you know what the noun “el logro” means? |
| Carlos: Sure, the noun “el logro” means “success”, “achievement”. All things we want in life. As a matter of fact, I think I’ll make that my next toast. |
| Dylan: Ok, I’ll reserve the table. |
| Carlos: Our next word is the verb “reservar”. |
| Dylan: “Reservar”. |
| Carlos: “Reservar”. |
| Dylan: “To reserve”, “to book”, “to save.” |
| Carlos: But we heard the verb in another form in our conversation. |
| Dylan: In the preterit tense actually. But we’ll get to that in today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Carlos: “¿En cuál hotel reservaste?” |
| Dylan: “In which hotel did you make our reservation?” |
| Carlos: Man that reminds me! |
| Dylan: What!? |
| Carlos: “Tengo que reservar en el restaurante para la cena de mañana”. |
| Dylan: You’re going to a nice place? |
| Carlos: Nice enough I need a reservation! Man it completely slipped my mind! |
| Dylan: Get on it! |
| Carlos: I can’t right now. I have to think of some related words. |
| Dylan: I’m sure you can of one or two. |
| Carlos: Oh yeah, obvious. “La reservación”. |
| Dylan: A noun, “reservation”. |
| Carlos: Exactly. |
| Dylan: Ok. Next up we have a verb we have seen before. |
| Carlos: Which? |
| Dylan: “Quedar”. |
| Carlos: “To stay put”, “to remain to be located”. You know, once I learned that verb I hear it more and more. |
| Dylan: Well, while real world examples do help, let’s think on the conversation. |
| Carlos: “Quedamos que tú llamabas”. |
| Dylan: “We agreed that you were going to call.“ |
| Carlos: Huh? |
| Dylan: “Quedar” not only has those three meanings, it can also mean to arrange. |
| Carlos: Ok, I’m going to have to make a mental note for this one. |
| Dylan: Escucha, “los estudiantes quedaron en reunirse hoy”. |
| Carlos: “The students arranged a meeting up today.” |
| Dylan: Or “The students arranged to meet today”. It’s a slippery slope. |
| Carlos: I see. |
| Dylan: In this sense of “quedar” meaning to arrange we have a related verb “acordar”. |
| Carlos: “Acordar”. “To agree, “to decide”. |
| Dylan: That’s a little more straight forward. |
| Carlos: A little. |
| Dylan: Next up is one you definitely know “esperar”. |
| Carlos: Ah yes, but that verb was confusing at first, both “to wait” and “to hope for”. |
| Dylan: Don’t forget “to expect.” |
| Carlos: But here we see it used in a certain tense. |
| Dylan: More like a mood. Pablo is using the imperative when he says “espera, si tú no reservaste ni yo…”. |
| Carlos: “Wait, if you didn’t make the reservation and I didn’t either…” They need some organization in their life. |
| Dylan: Oh yeah. Now, to wait is what I would say is the most common use of this verb. |
| Carlos: Right. Like, when you called me before and asked me where I was. And I said “estoy esperando el bus de San José”, “I am waiting for the bus from San Jose.” At least I had a book. |
| Dylan: Well you had a small “espera”. The feminine noun “wait”. |
| Carlos: Yeah, a had a small one but the transportation system in Costa Rica is actually very efficient in my eyes. |
| Dylan: No, it is very efficient. |
| Carlos: Next up another verb. |
| Dylan: No, we actually have a noun this time. |
| Carlos: A noun? What a refreshing change. |
| Dylan: “Cuarto”. |
| Carlos: “Cuarto”, “room”. Not to be confused with “cuatro”, “four”. |
| Dylan: Or “cuarto”, “fourth”. |
| Carlos: Oh wow, the fourth. You’re blowing my mind right now, Dylan. Relax, hold on. |
| Dylan: And that does happen a lot. |
| Carlos: Don’t I know it. |
| Dylan: But we hear the urgency when Pablo explains “es imposible conseguir un cuarto en este mes”. |
| Carlos: “It’s impossible to get a room this month.” |
| Dylan: Kind of like we talked about “Semana Santa”. |
| Carlos: Don’t be so sure, you know. I went to Antigua and Guatemala for “Semana Santa” without a reservation, and I found a room. |
| Dylan: Well, aren’t you lucky. |
| Carlos: Got to go on faith sometimes. Well, the problem was “los cuartos de los hoteles son muy caros”. |
| Dylan: “The hotel rooms are very expensive.” Especially at that time of year Carlos! Everyone is traveling then. |
| Carlos: I like the related word for “cuarto”, it has a ring to it. |
| Dylan: What? “¿Habitación?” |
| Carlos: Yeah. “Habitación” I don’t know why I like it but I do “habitación” also “room.” |
| Dylan: Well, our last word is one of my favorites. |
| Carlos: I think I know. |
| Dylan: “Playa”. |
| Carlos: “Beach”. I knew it! |
| Dylan: Now in my opinion Andrea doesn’t present him with a bad option. |
| Carlos: Right. “Nos toca dormir en la playa o en el auto”. |
| Dylan: “We either have to sleep on the beach or in the car.” |
| Carlos: I’ve slept on the beach before Dylan, and sand fleas… not really fun. |
| Dylan: “Necesito ir a la playa una vez al mes”. |
| Carlos: Do you actually get to the beach once a month? |
| Dylan: No. But that doesn’t mean I still don’t need it. |
| Carlos: Entiendo, me gusta la playa también. |
| Dylan: The preterit tense. |
| Carlos: The preterit tense. Always want to say things in the past. |
| Dylan: Right, the Past. |
| Carlos: Now, we know the preterit tense expresses an action prior to the present or to another action. |
| Dylan: Like “I saw him yesterday”. |
| Carlos: Or “I spoke her while you were working”. |
| Dylan: Now, with any tense we have regular and irregular verbs. |
| Carlos: Remind me which we are focusing on today again. |
| Dylan: Today we are going to focus on the bare bones basics. Regular verb formation in the preterit tense. |
| Carlos: Now, the thing I love about the preterit tense is it has something that makes it a little easier. |
| Dylan: Right for all regular, remember regular, for all regular ER and AR verbs the endings are the same. |
| Carlos: AR verbs always have to be different, don’t they? |
| Dylan: To get these endings down, let’s focus on three verbs. |
| Carlos: Ok, for AR verbs let’s take the verb “hablar”. For ER verbs let’s take “comer” this time. And for IR verbs let’s take “salir”. |
| Dylan: “Hablar”, “to speak”, “comer”, “to eat”, and “salir”, “to leave”. |
| Carlos: So what endings do we have for regular AR verbs, Dylan? |
| Dylan: For regular AR verbs in the preterit tense we have “-e, -aste, -o, -amos, -asteis, -aron”. |
| Carlos: So we have “Yo hablé” - “I spoke”. “Tú hablaste” - “You spoke”. “Él/ella/usted habló” - “He/she/you spoke”. “Nosotros hablamos” - “We spoke”. “Vosotros hablasteis” - “You all spoke” - informal, and “Ellos/ellas/ustedes hablaron” - “They spoke” - masculine, “they spoke” - feminine, “you all spoke” - formal. |
| Dylan: “Hablé con él ayer”. |
| Carlos: “I spoke to him yesterday.” |
| Dylan: “¿Hablaste con la profesora?” |
| Carlos: “Did you speak to the teacher?” |
| Dylan: “¿Hablaron español cuando estaban en Valencia?” |
| Carlos: “Did you all speak Spanish when you were in Valencia?” Whoa, you threw in the imperfect tense. |
| Dylan: Good work! But that will be another lesson. But did you notice the AR verb conjugated to the preterit tense in our conversation? |
| Carlos: Well, yes I did. Our very first line, when Pablo says “¿en cuál hotel reservaste?” |
| Dylan: In which hotel did you make our reservations? |
| Carlos: So we mentioned before that the endings for regular ER and IR verbs in the preterit tense are the same. What are they? |
| Dylan: “-i, -iste, -io, -imos, -isteis, -ieron”. |
| Carlos: So we have “Yo comí” - “I ate”, “Tú comiste” - “You ate”, “Él/ella/usted comió” - “He/she/you ate” formal, “Nosotros comimos” - “We ate”, “Vosotros comisteis” - “You all ate” - informal, and “Ellos/ellas/ustedes comieron” - “they ate” - masculine, “they ate” - feminine, and “you all ate” - formal. |
| Dylan: “Comí arroz con leche”. |
| Carlos: “I ate rice pudding yesterday.” I actually did eat rice pudding yesterday. |
| Dylan: “Comimos un festín después de la boda”. |
| Carlos: “We ate a feast after the wedding.” |
| Dylan: “Mi amor, ¿comiste tus verduras?”. |
| Carlos: “Honey did you eat your vegetables?” |
| Dylan: Now, with our regular IR verb “salir”, “to leave”. We just applied the same endings we already used with “comer”, our regular ER verb. |
| Carlos: Alright. So “Yo salí” - “I left”, “Tú saliste” - “You left” - informal, “Él/ella/usted salió” - “He/she/you left” - formal. “Nosotros salimos” - “We left”, “Vosotros salisteis” - “You all left” - informal and “Ellos/ellas/ustedes salieron” - “They left” - masculine, “they left” - feminine, and “you all left” - formal. |
| Dylan: “Él salió del país”. |
| Carlos: “He left the country.” |
| Dylan: “Salimos en una cita”. |
| Carlos: “We went out on a date.” |
| Dylan: “¿Esos muchachos salieron?” |
| Carlos: “Those guys left?” |
| Dylan: There’s something else we should bring up. |
| Carlos: Always is. |
| Dylan: For regular AR and IR verbs the present indicative and preterit indicative forms are identical. For example, “Terminamos el trabajo ayer”. “We finished the job yesterday”. Or “Terminamos el trabajo a las seis de la tarde”. “We finished the job at six in the evening”. |
| Carlos: Right. And as you see these examples, the sense in which we are to take the verbal form depends on the context in which it is used. |
| Dylan: But now it’s the AR verb’s turn to be different. They do not follow this rule. |
| Carlos: There’s always some of them. Always, of course. |
| Dylan: There are many, many, many regular verbs in the preterit tense of the indicative mood. However, many of these are grouped into categories that can be memorized very easily with just a little patience. |
| Carlos: Let’s take a look at “tener”, “to have”. For example, if we learn that “yo tuve” means “I had”, then we already know that “mantuve” means “I maintained” from the verb “mantener”. And that “contuve” means “I contained” from the verb “contener” and that “sostuve” means “I sustained” from the verb “sostener”. |
| Dylan: Learning these groups makes life easier. |
Outro |
| Carlos: This way, looking at all these verbs they won’t look so intimidating. Well, guys, that just about does it for today. |
| Carlos: ¡Nos vemos! |
| Dylan: ¡Chao! |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide