Learn preterit tense when it refers to a past action
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Buenos días, soy Dylan. |
| Carlos: What’s going on? I’m Carlos. “Preterit tense. Reaching completion.” |
| Dylan: Hey, everybody! ¡Hola a todos! |
| Carlos: What’s going on? My name is Carlos. Welcome to the 17th lesson of the Verb Conjugation Series of Spanishpod101.com . You hear that, Dylan? We made it through our first one. |
| Dylan: It only gets easier from here. |
| Carlos: One can only hope, Dylan, |
| Dylan: You sound worried, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Not worried, not at all, I’m just getting used to new gig, that’s all. I mean, like I said, verbs aren’t exactly my stronger point. |
| Dylan: Okay, if that’s how you feel, then, I will just have to leave the review to you. |
| Carlos: Why do you have to be like that? |
| Dylan: It’s a good way to learn. What did we cover in lesson 16? |
| Carlos: Well, that was only last week. I got this. |
| Dylan: So, then get it. |
| Carlos: All right. In lesson number 16, we began our discussion of the preterit tense. |
| Dylan: Right. In the Verb Conjugation Series, we take blocks of lesson and dedicate to tense and explore it completely. |
| Carlos: Exactly. And you know what? That’s a great way to look at a complex subject. I mean, you don’t get more bare bone than this. |
| Dylan: Okay, Carlos. Which verbs did we focus on in the last lesson? |
| Carlos: “Mirar” - “to look”, “abrir” - “to open” and “comer” - “to eat”. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dylan: Good. So, today we’re going to continue our discussions of the preterit tense when we reach completion. |
| Carlos: As opposed to actions prior to now. |
| Dylan: Good, you got to continue on. |
| Carlos: Sometimes, Dylan, I do. But which verb are we dealing with today in the tense? |
| Dylan: “Estar”, “poder”, “conducir”. |
| Carlos: All right. So, “estar” - “to be”, “poder” - “to be able” and “conducir” - “to lead”, “to conduct”, “to drive.” |
| Dylan: You know, Carlos, it keeps recurring to me how helpful this series is to students. |
| Carlos: Now, you know what? You’re right. And, as a student myself, it’s very, very practical. |
| Dylan: So, what if I wanted to just download these lessons so that I can focus on my verb studies? |
| Carlos: That’s simple. Spanishpod101.com has a feature called “My feed.” |
| Dylan: Okay, what would that do? |
| Carlos: On “My feed”, it allows students to choose the specific lessons they want to download to their comp, iPod or zoom. |
| Dylan: Sounds like a great way to keep organized. |
| Carlos: That’s it is, Dylan. |
| Dylan: Okay, let’s see how we can use this tense. |
| Carlos: So you mean the usage section? |
| Dylan: Yes, Carlos, very clever. |
| Carlos: I resent the sarcasm, thank you very much. |
| Dylan: Con mucho gusto, Carlos. |
| Carlos: All right, all right. Grammar. |
| Dylan: Entonces Carlitos, la vez pasada estudiamos el tiempo pretérito cuando se refiere a una acción pasada, ¿no? |
| Carlos: That was really fast, hold on. Yes, right. We looked at the preterit tense when it refers to a past action. |
| Dylan: Well, today, we’re going to study something a little bit different. |
| Carlos: I’m always game. |
| Dylan: It’s a little tricky, but I think you’ll get it. |
| Carlos: Hey, come on, what are you trying to say? |
| Dylan: So, if I say, “Ayer aprendí la noticia”, “Yesterday, I found out about the news”, it’s the action that’s being described here simply a past action, like those we saw was time, or does this one show something different? |
| Carlos: No, you weren’t lying. This is a little tricky. |
| Dylan: “Ayer aprendí la noticia”. |
| Carlos: It seems like now we’re showing the exact moment when you found out. |
| Dylan: So, it’s like the action of learning or finding out comes to completion in this expression. |
| Carlos: Yeah, that’s it. |
| Dylan: And does the same go for the following example? “Por fin llegué a conseguir el libro”. |
| Carlos: Hold up. Doesn’t that mean, “I finally arrived to obtain the book”? |
| Dylan: The thing is that we are expressing the completion of the past action. “Por fin llegué a conseguir el libro”. So, it’s like saying, “I finally managed to get a hold of the book.” |
| Carlos: Ah, okay. So, it’s like Completing the action is like closing the chapter on an open book. |
| Dylan: That’s great, Carlos. Very well put. |
| Carlos: All right. So, if I want to say, “I finally moved to Costa Rica.” |
| Dylan: “Por fin me mudé a Costa Rica”. |
| Carlos: I finally did that and what a great country. |
| Dylan: Awesome, “pura vida”. |
| Dylan: So, again, here, going back, how is the preterit tense being used? |
| Carlos: With our examples, it’s being used in expressing the completion of a past action. |
| Dylan: ¡Qué chiva! |
| Carlos: That’s enthusiasm I don’t hear that often. Cool. |
| Dylan: I’m so proud of you! |
| Carlos: Thank you. Well, I think that’s time to get in some verb formation. |
| Dylan: What are our verbs, again, for today, Carlos? |
| Carlos: “Estar” - “to be”, “poder” - “to be able” and “conducir” - “to lead”, “to conduct”, “to drive.” |
| Dylan: Bueno Carlitos, hoy vamos a estudiar algunos verbos irregulares. |
| Carlos: Irregular verbs? |
| Dylan: That’s right. |
| Carlos: My, you don’t want to waste any time, do you? |
| Dylan: You got a lot to learn, grasshopper! |
| Carlos: All right. So, if we have a lot to learn, where can we start? |
| Dylan: With the verb “estar”. In order to form it in the preterit tense of the indicative mood, we’re going to need the stem from the infinitive form which is simply “e-s-t”. |
| Carlos: Okay, “e-s-t”. |
| Dylan: And then we add the letters “u-v”. |
| Carlos: All right, and this gives us “estuv”. |
| Dylan: And from there we just add the personal endings, “-e”, “-iste”, “-o”, “-imos”, “-isteis” and “-ieron”. |
| Carlos: That looks similar to the regular forms, but there are some clear differences. Okay, let’s go through the paradigms to make this clearer. |
| Dylan: “Estar”. |
| Carlos: “To be.” |
| Dylan: “Yo estuve”. |
| Carlos: “I was.” |
| Dylan: “Tú estuviste”. |
| Carlos: “You were.” |
| Dylan: “Él estuvo”. |
| Carlos: “He was.” |
| Dylan: “Nosotros estuvimos”. |
| Carlos: “We were.” |
| Dylan: “Vosotros estuvisteis”. |
| Carlos: “You all were.” |
| Dylan: “Ellos estuvieron”. |
| Carlos: “They were.” |
| Dylan: Does that help? |
| Carlos: Yeah, but I think I need some examples. |
| Dylan: Well, you could say “La semana pasada estuve en la casa de mi tío”. |
| Carlos: Which means? |
| Dylan: “Last week I was at my uncle’s house.” |
| Carlos: How about another example with the verb “estar” in the preterit tense on the indicative mood? |
| Dylan: Hmm, “anoche estuviste comiendo sushi”. |
| Carlos: Okay, I know I heard sushi. So, what does mean for our audience? |
| Dylan: “Last night you were eating sushi.” |
| Carlos: I was. I ate a lot of it. I’m a fat boy. |
| Dylan: People learning about you too. |
| Carlos: I am an open book, I’m for the people. All right, cool. So, let’s move on to the verb “poder”. |
| Dylan: Claro. |
| Carlos: What should I know about the formation of “poder”? |
| Dylan: Well, for starters, there’s a stem change in the preterit tense. |
| Carlos: Let’s see. In the infinitive, the verb “poder”, which means the stem is “pod”, spelled “p-o-d”, like Spanishpod101.com. All right, so what does it change to? |
| Dylan: It changes to the “pud” spelled “p-u-d”. |
| Carlos: “Pud”? |
| Dylan: Got it. |
| Carlos: All right, and from there? |
| Dylan: Actually, from there we just add the same personal endings as we did for the verb “estar”. |
| Carlos: That’s it? |
| Dylan: That’s it. |
| Carlos: ¿Nada más? |
| Dylan: Nada más. |
| Carlos: All right, you know what? I’m confident, let’s conjugate this bad boy. |
| Dylan: Let’s go. “Poder”. |
| Carlos: “To be able.” |
| Dylan: “Yo pude”. |
| Carlos: “I was able.” |
| Dylan: “Tú pudiste”. |
| Carlos: “You were able.” |
| Dylan: “Él pudo”. |
| Carlos: “He was able.” |
| Dylan: “Nosotros pudimos”. |
| Carlos: “We were able.” |
| Dylan: “Vosotros pudisteis”. |
| Carlos: “You were all able.” |
| Dylan: “Ellos pudieron”. |
| Carlos: “They were able.” |
| Dylan: It’s not so bad, is it? |
| Carlos: Well, Dylan, it’s a lot easier with you. You haven’t recorded 20 plus lessons with Natalia? |
| Dylan: I’m not going to touch that one. |
| Carlos: Fair enough, I will. See, Nati, Dylan is encouraging me, not beating me with a baseball bat, whenever I get something wrong. Okay, Dylan, how about another example ? |
| Dylan: Well, you could say “no pude contestar tu llamada porque estabas en una reunión”. |
| Carlos: Which means? |
| Dylan: “I couldn’t answer your phone call because you were in a meeting.” |
| Carlos: Okay, which always happens because I’m so busy, but you know… How about another example, Dylan? |
| Dylan: How about you go for it, Carlos? |
| Carlos: I’m not the teacher. |
| Dylan: Come on, you’re the student, a pretty good one. |
| Carlos: Come on, master, don’t make me do this. |
| Dylan: “Ellos pudieron ver el atardecer en la playa”. |
| Carlos: Beach. |
| Dylan: “They could see the sunset on the beach.” |
| Carlos: That’s sweet. That’s so nice. That’s a nice picture. All right, sounds good, one more verb to go. |
| Dylan: That’s right, “conducir”. |
| Carlos: So, what should I be aware of when conjugating this one in the preterit tense? |
| Dylan: Well, we are just going to use the stem from the infinitive. From there, we’re going to swap a “j” for the final “c”, so that we get “conduj”. And then we have the following personal endings, “-e”, “-iste”, “-o”, “-imos”, “-isteis” and “-eron”. |
| Carlos: Man, it’s hard to learn endings. I know I’ll eventually get them, but I need to see the complete forms. |
| Dylan: All right. Well, then let’s conjugate the verb “conducir” in the preterit indicative. |
| Carlos: Good idea, Dylan. |
| Dylan: “Conducir”. |
| Carlos: “To drive.” |
| Dylan: “Yo conduje”. |
| Carlos: “I drove.” |
| Dylan: “Tú condujiste”. |
| Carlos: “You drove.” |
| Dylan: “Él condujo”. |
| Carlos: “He drove.” |
| Dylan: “Nosotros condujimos”. |
| Carlos: “We drove.” |
| Dylan: “Vosotros condujisteis”. |
| Carlos: “You all drove.” |
| Dylan: “Ellos condujeron”. |
| Carlos: “They drove.” All right. You know what? It’s getting clearer now. I see the clouds parting and the sun hitting through. Thanks to you, Dylan. Nati, if you’re listening… |
| Dylan: Don’t put me against Nati, please. All right, let’s get some examples. How about “un amigo mío me condujo a la fiesta”? |
| Carlos: Which means? |
| Dylan: “A friend of mine drove me to the party.” |
| Carlos: I just got a car in Costa Rica and I love it. I had to put that in there, it has nothing to do with verbs, but, man, this place is like a party with a car. It’s awesome. Just go to the beach whenever you want... I’m sorry, how about another example, Dylan? |
| Dylan: “Ellos condujeron su auto hasta la casa de Carlos”. |
| Carlos: Carlos’ house. |
| Dylan: Come on Carlos, pay attention to this lesson. |
| Carlos: You spoke so quickly. I heard Carlos’s house, casa de Carlos. |
| Dylan: “Ellos condujeron su auto hasta la casa de Carlos”, “They drove their car all the way to Carlos’s house.” |
Outro |
| Carlos: This wraps up today’s lesson. |
| Dylan: I think we did a good job today, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Dylan, I couldn’t agree more. |
| Dylan: Until next time... |
| Carlos: Peace, love and Spanish. |
| Dylan: You just won’t stop, will you? |
| Carlos: Resistance is futile, Dylan, ask Nati. |
| Dylan: ¡Chao! |
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