I'm struggling to conjugate this verb

Question

How would I say: Last year the science department constructed a laboratory...

I know I should use the preterite tense, but i'm getting mixed answers on my past question i really need help on soon so any more help would be great here is the link: http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/224475/need-people-to-proof-read-my-letter-please

so far I have this:

El ano pasado el deparatento de ciancias construió una laboratorio...

??

thanks.

Answer 1

Hi, good job. I think you want this verb. El año pasado el departamento de ciencias construyó un laboratorio.

Preterit for construir

construí
construiste
construyó



construimos
construisteis
construyeron

Hi san lee. Just after I posted my answer I noticed that you had beaten me to it. Oh well, at least we came to the same answer. Regards...Jool. - jool, Feb 26, 2012

Muy bien, Sanlee :) - Cordobesa, Feb 26, 2012

Thank you, Cordobesa! - sanlee, Feb 26, 2012

Answer 2

Hello student-bo. You are absolutely right to use the 'pretérito' as it is a completed action. Also, rogspax was correct the the gender of the 'laboratorio' and the spelling of 'ciencia'. There are however a couple of other problems. The preterit tense of construir is 'construYó as the 'i' is replaced by a 'y' in this verb. Also there is a typing error with 'departamento'. Apart from that...all is well. Good luck with your studies...Jool.

Answer 3

That looks OK to me (though I¨m just a beginner, so I hope you get more answers. Note that it should be UN laboratorio, not UNA, and ciEncias, not ciAncias