Skype Chat--Mar 19 - Preterit tense

Question

Update on time: Saturday 5:30 PM East Coast Time, 3:30 PM Mexico, 10:30 PM Spain, Sunday 8:30 AM Australia

Please note: In the United States, we have changed to daylight-saving time this week, so the times in other regions have become one hour earlier.

Dakie and I will be doing a chat on the preterit tense. It will be like the chat that Heidi had for the tú commands. First, someone will give a sentence in English for a person to translate into Spanish like, "I shopped yesterday''. Compré ayer. Then, someone will ask them a question about their sentence. ¿Qué compraste ayer? What did you buy yesterday? And that person will answer the question, for example, "Compré un nuevo vestido". I just started this tense last week so I am just learning it myself.

Now don't get nervous. Dakie says that the preterit tense is really easy.

To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterit, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following:

é
aste
ó
amos
asteis
aron

To conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the preterit, simply drop the ending (-er or -ir) and add one of the following:

í
iste
ió
imos
isteis
ieron

Watch those Tildes!

The 1st and 3rd person singular have tildes (written accents) to differentiate them from present tense conjugations.

Note: the nosotros forms for -ar and -ir verbs are the same in both preterit and present tenses: hablamos, vivimos.

Here are some words that are used with the preterit flashcard setWords used with the preterit

You can do the video lessons on the preteritThe Preterit and Travels Irregular Preterit and Travel Kind of Irregular Preterit Try to do the best you can. Just try to get the basics. I will be posting some flashcards also.Cómo formar el pretérito Let's have fun with the preterit tense! Here is a link to the Conjuguemos spanish verb practice site for regular preterit. Try practicing it untimed at first. It is a big help. Practice the Spanish PRETERIT TENSE: regular verbs with this verb conjugation practice tool

For English learners, we will be doing part of the chat in English. So you can practice your English too. All levels are welcome.

Who will be there? : Echoline, Ray, Jason, Feliz, Yeser007, Croberts, Margaret, Miro, Joe, Aboutagirl, Rabbit, Lukaaxx, Dogwood, Pacofinger, Ron

Maybe attending : Goldie,

Moderators: Sandy, Dakie

Una buena ídea , Sandy :) - FELIZ77, Mar 11, 2011

Hee hee, a native speaker says it's really easy! I dunno what I was so afraid of then! - rabbitwho, Mar 14, 2011

It's a piece of cake , made in Spain with too much chilli , suggest eat in small pieces , digest slowly. and don't chunder in my direction. - ray76, Mar 15, 2011