Question

Does anyone know how to write verbs in the preterite form?

Ex. dar, decir, hacer, ir , tocar, estar

Answer 1

Okay.

For now, I'll assume that you know to conjugate REGULAR spanish verbs, into the preterite.

All of the verbs that you have here, on this list, actually conjugate IRREGULARLY, into the preterite.

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Let's start with DAR (to give).

(Yo) di

(Tú) diste

(Él/Ella/Usted) dio

(Nosotros) dimos

(Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes) dieron

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DAR ends with the letters AR,
but it doesn't conjugate in the same way as other AR verbs.

That's why it's irregular.

Do you have any questions so far?

Answer 2

Let's move onto DECIR (to say).

(Yo) dije

(Tú) dijiste

(Él/Ella/Usted) dijo

(Nosotros) dijimos

(Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes) dijeron

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Again, we see here that DECIR is irregular, in the preterite.

It doesn't follow the same preterite-conjugation rules as other IR verbs.

Answer 3

Now, we'll conjugate HACER (to do).

~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Yo) hice

(Tú) hiciste

(Él/Ella/Usted) hizo

(Nosotros) hicimos

(Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes) hicieron


HACER is irregular in the preterite.
Especially in the (Él/Ella/Usted) form!
We have to watch out for that letter Z.

Answer 4

Now, we'll conjugate IR (to go).

~~~~~~~~

(Yo) fui

(Tú) fuiste

(Él/Ella/Usted) fue

(Nosotros) fuimos

(Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes) fueron


IR is totally irregular in the preterite.

I do believe IR is irregular in just about every tense.

Answer 5

Now, we'll conjugate TOCAR (to touch).

TOCAR is actually REGULAR, for the most part.
It is only IRREGULAR in the YO form. Watch:

~~~~~~~~~

(Yo) toqué

(Tú) tocaste

(Él/Ella/Usted) tocó

(Nosotros) tocamos

(Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes) tocaron

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you see how in the YO form,
we have to change the letter C to a Q,
to make "toqué"?

That's because "toqué" would be correctly pronounced "toh-KAY."

If it were spelled "tocé," it would be pronounced "toh-SAY."
And that's not right at all.

Pronunciation is very important, whenever we're conjugating Spanish verbs, into different tenses.

Sometimes, Spanish verbs conjugate a little irregularly,
just so that they can have the correct pronunciation.

Answer 6

Lastly, we'll conjugate ESTAR (to be).

(Yo) estuve

(Tú) estuviste

(Él/Ella/Usted) estuvo

(Nosotros) estuvimos

(Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes) estuvieron

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Obviously, ESTAR is also irregular, in the preterite.

Answer 7

Irregulars don't follow the normal rules, of Spanish conjugation.
So, the best we can really do is to memorize them.

It may seem hard at first,
but if we repeatedly look at these verbs,
and use them in sentences and speech,
it becomes easier.

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Now, at the beginning of the explanation, I did assume that you already know how to conjugate NORMAL Spanish verbs, into the preterite.

But if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Answer 8

Thank you!

Answer 9

De nada. No problema.

Answer 10

I want to make sure I'm doing regular verbs right.

Regular AR verbs would be like HABLAR. If I were to make it into the preterite form it would be:

Hable
hablaste
hablo
hablamos
hablaron

Answer 11

Yeah, that's right.

With the accents and all, but yeah. That's how we would conjugate it.