Learn how to form the preterit tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola, hola a todos. Habla Dylan, ¿cómo están? |
| Carlos: What’s going on, Pod101 world? My name is Carlos. |
| Dylan: In this lesson, you will learn about the preterit tense with the irregular verbs. |
| Carlos: This conversation takes place in a bar. |
| Dylan: The conversation is between Lau, Juanca and Rodri. |
| Carlos: The speakers are friends so they are speaking informally. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| LAU: Mu-cha-chos, ¡necesito el baño! |
| JUANCA: Lau tranquila, aquí no, vamos, yo te llevo. |
| RODRI: Lau, mejor regresemos a tu casa. Nosotros te llevamos. |
| LAU: ¡Ahh no! ¡No quiero ir a casa! ¡Quiero más tequila! ¡Mensajero…! |
| RODRI: Ajajaja, Lau le dijiste mensajero al mesero. |
| JUANCA: Ajajaj, Lau no puedes tomar más. ¡Vamos a tu casa! |
| Lau: Guuuuyyysss, I need the bathroom! |
| Juanca: Lau, relax, not here, come on, I'll take you. |
| Rodri: Lau, we'd better get back to your house. We'll take you. |
| Lau: Hahaha, no! I don't want to go home! I want more tequila! Messenger! |
| Rodri: Hahaha, Lau, you called the waiter a messenger. |
| Juanca: Hahaha, Lau, you can't drink anymore. Let's go to your house! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dylan: Oh my God, that poor girl! |
| Carlos: Or she’s up like, “I want more tequila!”. |
| Dylan: Oh, no. |
| Carlos: Do you like tequila, Dylan? |
| Dylan: No. |
| Carlos: I like tequila, depends on the quality though. |
| Dylan: No, no, no. I can’t handle it. |
| Carlos: You can’t handle it? |
| Dylan: No I’d rather just stick with my Imperial. |
| Carlos: Okay. Well, you know, the idea of tequila is that the closer you get to Mexico, the better the quality. I remember when I was in Guatemala, we had some beautiful tequila. |
| Dylan: You know that the Mexicans sip their tequila? They don’t like take a shot. |
| Carlos: Yes, they sip it. |
| Dylan: Yes. |
| Carlos: They savor it. |
| Dylan: Yes. |
| Carlos: I didn’t know that. Thanks. Okay guys, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Baño”. |
| Carlos: “Bathroom.” |
| Dylan: “Ba-ño”, “baño”. |
| Dylan: “Llevar”. |
| Carlos: “To take.” |
| Dylan: “Lle-var”, “llevar”. |
| Dylan: “Regresar”. |
| Carlos: “To return.” |
| Dylan: “Re-gre-sar”, “regresar”. |
| Dylan: “Mensajero”. |
| Carlos: “Messenger.” |
| Dylan: “Men-sa-je-ro”, “mensajero”. |
| Dylan: “Tranquilo, tranquila”. |
| Carlos: “Relaxed”, “tranquil”, “calm.” |
| Dylan: “Tran-qui-lo, tran-qui-la”, “tranquilo, tranquila”. |
| Dylan: “Necesitar”. |
| Carlos: “To need.” |
| Dylan: “Ne-ce-si-tar”, “necesitar”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Okay guys, let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Dylan: The first word we’ll look at is “necesitar”. |
| Carlos: “Necesitar”, come on Dylan, we’ve done this verb. |
| Dylan: I know we have, what does it mean? |
| Carlos: It means “to need.” |
| Dylan: Right, but I had an idea to do this verb because of another situation in which I heard you speaking Spanish, so I got the idea to cover this verb again. |
| Carlos: Okay, let me know. What? |
| Dylan: Are you sure? |
| Carlos: Yes, I’m sure. |
| Dylan: When you need to do something, you use “necesitar”. Which is using the English use, “I need.” |
| Carlos: Wait, not like the conversation? |
| Dylan: Nothing like the conversation. Lau is getting more than tipsy and she say “¡Necesito el baño!” |
| Carlos: “I need the bathroom!” |
| Dylan: You say something like “¡Necesito ir al baño!” Which what you mean is... |
| Carlos: “Tengo que ir al baño”. |
| Dylan: And what are you expressing there? |
| Carlos: An obligation, right, I get it. |
| Dylan: So, let’s move on then. What is another sample sentence? |
| Carlos: “Yo necesito más dinero”. |
| Dylan: Aaaah, we all need more money, Carlos. |
| Carlos: That’s true, here comes a related word, “la necesidad”, “the necessity.” |
| Dylan: Or “es necesario”, an adjective that means... |
| Carlos: “Necessary.” |
| Dylan: It is necessary to move on to our next word. |
| Carlos: Which is... |
| Dylan: “Baño”. |
| Carlos: “Baño”, “bathroom.” But wait! |
| Dylan: Hold up for the related word. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Dylan: We already heard our example from the conversation but give it to us again. |
| Carlos: “¡Necesito el baño!” |
| Dylan: “I need the bathroom!” |
| Carlos: But a common elementary and a common question to ask in a restaurant is... |
| Dylan: “¿Dónde está el baño?” |
| Carlos: “Where is the bathroom?” |
| Dylan: Now. Now you can give us the other word you were thinking. |
| Carlos: “Servicio”. |
| Dylan: Do you know what that means? |
| Carlos: Is it another word for “bathroom”? |
| Dylan: Sort of, the “servicio” is actually “the toilet.” |
| Carlos: Ah perfect! I was wondering about that. |
| Dylan: Huh! I am sure. |
| Carlos: Next up... |
| Dylan: Next up is quite a popular adjective. |
| Carlos: Oh, yes? |
| Dylan: Yes, I have heard you use it on more than one occasion. “Tranquila”. |
| Carlos: Oh yes. Man I love that adjective, “tranquila”. It has come to replace my English “chill”. |
| Dylan: Well, it doesn’t just mean “chill”, but what English word do you recognize? |
| Carlos: “Tranquil.” |
| Dylan: Right. “Tranquil”, “calm”, etc. |
| Carlos: So this is what you want to say when you want to calm someone down. |
| Dylan: “Lau tranquila, aquí no, vamos, yo te llevo”. |
| Carlos: “Lau relax, not here, come on, I’ll take you.” |
| Dylan: That is probably a situation where you would want to lose “tranquila”. I mean what other situation could you use it in? |
| Carlos: Well, if I were in the same condition she is in, I might be defensive and say “estoy tranquilo”. |
| Dylan: “I’m relaxed”, huh! |
| Carlos: “Estoy tranquilo”. |
| Dylan: “I’m relaxed”, huh! Yes, you have a point there. |
| Carlos: What’s a related word? |
| Dylan: I would say “tranquilidad”, “the tranquility.” |
| Carlos: Or “cálmese”, “calm down.” |
| Dylan: Yes. |
| Carlos: Next up... |
| Dylan: “Llevar”, “to take.” |
| Carlos: From the most common question in a restaurant, “¿para llevar?” |
| Dylan: “To go”. |
| Carlos: Or “to take.” |
| Dylan: Looks like Juanca is turning out to be a good friend after all. |
| Carlos: Yes. “Yo te llevo”, “I’ll take you.” |
| Dylan: Looks like someone is getting ready to hold someone’s hair. |
| Carlos: Hahaha those were the days. |
| Dylan: You know we can also use the verb “llevar” to express “driving.” |
| Carlos: Oh yeah, I didn’t know that. |
| Dylan: It’s true, “me llevó en coche”. |
| Carlos: “He drove me there in a car.” Perfect, so when I said “puedo manejarte a tu casa”, it was wrong? |
| Dylan: Yeah, sorry. That word makes sense but just no one would say that. |
| Carlos: Well, thanks for the update. |
| Dylan: So “manejar” is a related word. Can you think of another? |
| Carlos: “Conducir”. |
| Dylan: “To drive”, “to manage sure.” |
| Carlos: Next up... |
| Dylan: “Regresar”. “To return”, “to come back”, like home. |
| Carlos: You can always go home again. |
| Dylan: Especialmente when you are in that condition. |
| Carlos: If these people who were making Lau drink more to admit defeat, you know she’s bad. |
| Dylan: “Lau, mejor regresemos a tu casa”. |
| Carlos: “Lau we better get back to your house.” |
| Dylan: “Yo regresé a la escuela a las cinco de la tarde”. |
| Carlos: “I return to the school at five in the afternoon.” That’s a long day. |
| Dylan: No you telling me? |
| Carlos: So what do they usually call movie sequels? |
| Dylan: “El regreso”, “the return.” Although I don’t think I’ve heard any movie called The return since Jaws. |
| Carlos: That’s true. Sorry, I just thought it was a good way to have a lead in. |
| Dylan: Okay, well then good set up for the related word. Last but not least... |
| Carlos: “Mensajero”. |
| Dylan: “Mensajero”, “messenger.” |
| Carlos: And what does she mean? |
| Dylan: “Mesero”, “waiter.” |
| Carlos: Which is why Rodri points this out. “Lau le dijiste mensajero al mesero”. |
| Dylan: Lau calling the waiter messenger, now that is funny. |
| Carlos: I think so too. |
| Dylan: How about a sentence? “El mensajero te va a llevar el sobre”. |
| Carlos: “The messenger, will deliver the envelope to you.” |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dylan: Okay, today we are looking at the preterit tense but irregular. |
| Carlos: So we need to pay special attention since the patterns don’t hold. |
| Dylan: In the preterit tense, there are a number of irregular verbs. |
| Carlos: So what makes verbs irregular in the preterit tense is the stem change. |
| Dylan: After we make the stem changes, we use the following endings “-e”, “-iste”, “-o”, “-imos”, “-isteis”, and “-ieron”. We use these endings for all the regular verbs in the preterit regardless what ending they have in the infinitive. Here are the conjugations of the irregulars. “Estar”, “tener”, “decir”. |
| Carlos: Okay, “estar”. A first conjugation “ar” verb. |
| Dylan: “Yo estuve”. |
| Carlos: “I was.” |
| Dylan: “Tú estuviste”. |
| Carlos: “You were.” |
| Dylan: “Él estuvo”. |
| Carlos: “He was.” |
| Dylan: “Ella estuvo”. |
| Carlos: “She was.” |
| Dylan: “Usted estuvo”. |
| Carlos: “You were (formal)”. |
| Dylan: “Estuvo”. |
| Carlos: “It was (neutral).” Let’s get down to the plural. |
| Dylan: “Nosotros estuvimos”. |
| Carlos: “We were.” |
| Dylan: “Vosotros estuvisteis”. |
| Carlos: “You all were (formal)”. |
| Dylan: “Ellos estuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “You all were (informal).” |
| Dylan: “Ellos estuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “They were (masculine).” |
| Dylan: “Ellas estuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “They were (feminine).” |
| Dylan: “Ustedes estuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “You all were (formal)”. |
| Dylan: “Estuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “They were (neutral).” And now tener a second conjugation “er” verb... |
| Dylan: “Yo tuve”. |
| Carlos: “I had.” |
| Dylan: “Tú tuviste”. |
| Carlos: “You had.” |
| Dylan: “Él tuvo”. |
| Carlos: “He had.” |
| Dylan: “Ella tuvo”. |
| Carlos: “She had.” |
| Dylan: “Usted tuvo”. |
| Carlos: “You had (formal).” |
| Dylan: “Tuvo”. |
| Carlos: “It had (neutral).” |
| Dylan: “Nosotros tuvimos”. |
| Carlos: “We had.” |
| Dylan: “Vosotros tuvisteis”. |
| Carlos: “You all had (informal).” |
| Dylan: “Ellos tuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “They had (masculine).” |
| Dylan: “Ellas tuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “They had (feminine).” |
| Dylan: “Ustedes tuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “You all had (formal).” |
| Dylan: “Tuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “They had (neutral).” But let’s take a look at some other verbs. We had an “ar”, “er” and now “ir”. |
| Dylan: The verb “decir”. “Yo dije”. |
| Carlos: “I said.” |
| Dylan: “Tú dijiste”. |
| Carlos: “You said.” |
| Dylan: “Él dijo”. |
| Carlos: “He said.” |
| Dylan: “Ella dijo”. |
| Carlos: “She said.” |
| Dylan: “Usted dijo”. |
| Carlos: “You said (formal).” |
| Dylan: “Nosotros dijimos”. |
| Carlos: “We said.” |
| Dylan: “Vosotros dijisteis”. |
| Carlos: “You all said (informal).” |
| Dylan: “Ellos dijeron”. |
| Carlos: “They said (masculine).” |
| Dylan: “Ellas dijeron”. |
| Carlos: “They said (feminine).” |
| Dylan: “Ustedes dijeron”. |
| Carlos: “You all said (formal).” Now which was the example we had from our conversation? |
| Dylan: “Lau, le dijiste mensajero al mesero”. |
| Carlos: “Lau you called the waiter a messenger.” But Dylan, let’s take a look at some sample sentences. |
| Dylan: “Vosotros tuvisteis muchos amigos en la casa”. |
| Carlos: “You all had a lot of friends in the house.” |
| Dylan: “Ustedes estuvieron en la reunión ¿no?” |
| Carlos: “You all were at the gathering, right?” |
| Dylan: “Ella anduvo a la tienda”. |
| Carlos: “She went to the store.” |
| Dylan: Notice that there are no accents in the irregular form of the preterit tense. |
| Carlos: This is a big difference in regards to the regular verb forms of the preterit. Which have many accents indicative of their tense. |
| Dylan: Also, remember that these conjugations are paradigms. Other verbs will apply to these conjugations, for example consider “mantener”, “to maintain”, “contener”, “to contain” and “detener”, “to detain.” All of which had the stem change, “mantuv-”, “contuv-”, “detuv-”. |
Outro |
| Carlos: Well guys, that just about does it for today. |
| Dylan: ¡Hasta luego! |
| Carlos: Nos vemos, ¡chao! |
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