(I met Antonia for the first time.) - Conocía a Antonia. With conocer, the meaning becomes ‘to meet someone for the first time.’Ĭonocí a Antonia. Supe que no era cierto - I found out/realised it wasn’t true. With ‘saber’, the meaning changes to ‘find out, realise.’ Pudo hacerlo - He/She/You (formal) managed to do it. The preterite of ‘poder’ is closer in meaning to ‘to manage to’ as opposed to ‘be able to.’ This is especially true of saber (to know), poder (to be able to), tener (to have) querer (to love/want), and conocer (to know a person). Special Uses of the PreteriteSome verbs undergo a change of meaning according to aspect. In sentences with phrases like ‘todos los años’ (every year) or ‘todos los días’ (every day), the beginning and ending of the period of time are not specified, and so you should use the imperfect. Por un instante, pensé que me caía - For a moment, I thought that I was falling.ĭurante meses o pudimos hablar de otra cosa - For months, we couldn’t talk about anything else. Note that a period of time is often implied rather than explicit. a period of time of a specific length, then you must use the preterite tense for any event which went on the for the duration of the period, and then ended. Preterite for Finite Periods of TimeIf a finite period of time in the past is mentioned, i.e. La fiesta fue un éxito muy grande - The party was a great success. The first sentence looks back on the crossing as accomplished, the second envisages the crossing as still to be made.Īyer anduve más de quince kilómetro - Yesterday, I walked more than 15 kilometres.įue un error no devolverle el dinero - It was a mistake not to return the money to him. Teníamos que atraversar dos desiertos para llegar al oasis - We (still) had to cross tow deserts to get to the oasis. Tuvimos que atraversar dos desiertos para llegar al oasis - We had to cross tow deserts to get to the oasis. The difference between the preterite and the imperfect often expresses an idea which is not easily translated into English. Use of the PreteriteThe preterite is used to indicate an event which is past and complete. condujeron (NB this applies to all verbs ending in –ducir) So: decir (to say,tell) – dije…dijeron/traer (to bring) - traje…trajeron/ conducir (to drive)- conduje. Note that when the stem of ‘pretérito grave’ ends in ‘j’, the third person plural ending is –eron. Hacer (to do/make) hice (hizo in the third person singular) Other commonly used verbs with a ‘pretérito grave’, which follow this pattern, are: Additionally, the stem of the preterite is usually unpredictable.Ī classic example is tener, to have, whose preterite goes like this: The first and third preterite endings are not stressed, and have no accent. Irregular PreteritesSome verbs take what is known as ‘pretérito grave’. Note that these same endings also apply to regular –er verbs as well. Then add the endings as follows, and note the stressed endings in the first and third persons singular:įor a regular –ar verb such as tomar (to take, often used in the sense of to have a drink) In practice, this means –ar, -er, or –ir. Formation of the PreteriteTo form the imperfect, take the infinitive of the verb and then remove the final two letters. Yo era jefe de departamento (at the time.)Ĭorrect translation of the English means deciding which sense of the past is implied. Yo fui jefe de departamento ( I was head of department and then stopped) with: So, Yo fui (I was) differs, from its English translation. The preterite tense in Spanish normally describes events which are both in the past and completed, or at least described as beginning in the past.
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