Preterite - the Simple Past

Preterite - the Simple Past

We have been speaking about events that take place in the past. You may remember that we said that there are two ways of looking at the past. We can speak of events that happened repeatedly or continued over a period of time. Usually in English these are expressed with "was doing" or "used to do" patterns. However there is a third pattern in English. We can just say, "did". This provides us with a question in translating to Spanish where we have to think about exactly what we mean. Look at the following examples.

John was buying the medicine that he needed at this drug store.

John used to buy the medicine that he needed at this drug store.

John always bought the medicine that he needed at this drug store.

John bought the medicine that he needed at this drug store yesterday.

It is clear that in the first two cases, "was buying" and "used to buy" suggest repeated actions in the past. He always bought or continued to buy the medicine in the same drug store over a period of time. This probably happened repeatedly over a period of months or perhaps years. In the last two cases, however, we have exactly the same past form in English, "bought" but we can see that the two sentences mean something different. When we say, "he always bought", we really mean "he used to buy" or "he was buying (repeatedly over a period of time)". In the last case, however, when we say "bought" we really mean something else. There is no repetition or continuation. He made one trip to the drug store and made one purchase. It is important for us to understand this concept, since in Spanish this means that we have to use a different form of the verb to indicate one time events at specific moments in the past.

There is one other aspect of this past tense form in Spanish that we have to take into account. The form does not follow the pattern that we have seen with other verb patterns. The other verb forms have always had three parts, the "stem", the "classification", and the "inflection" (the part which has to match the subject-telling us who does it). We have seen how most of the verb is predictable. We put the "classification" (fact/feeling and present/past) indicator in the middle of the verb, and we can visualize the pattern in a square box pattern.

"A" Verbs fact feeling
present a e
past aba ara
"E" Verbs fact feeling
present e a
past ía iera

The "preterite" past, simple one time events, are expressed by a verb form which only has two parts. The reasons for this aren't completely clear, but we do have some idea of what happened to make this so. Remember that during the middle ages, very few people knew how to read or write. Language was something that was only heard, not read. When we hear words, they evaporate in the air as they are spoken. Spoken words aren't permanent like written words on paper. The written word tends to stabilize language and slow down change. The only form of written language which most people had access to during this time was the Bible, since they heard readings from the Bible each Sunday when they went to mass. Even so there could be a failure to hear words pronounced correctly, or the priest himself might make some mistakes. When we speak we often combine syllables and make contractions, such as "does not" in English which we contract to "doesn't". Notice that the unstressed syllable vowel of "not" virtually disappears and becomes little more than a kind of grunt noise. We can't know exactly how the pronunciation shifts from Latin came about, but scholars have some rough idea by looking at old texts. In any case what we have today is the following.

Preterite of "A" Verbs é
aste
o´
amos
aron
Preterite of "E" Verbs í
iste
ió
imos
ieron

We merely place the appropriate "preterite" (one time past event) ending after the "stem", giving us a verb form which has only two parts. Notice that for the "nosotros" form with "a" verbs and also "i" verbs, the preterite (one time past event) will be exactly the same as the present fact form. We have to be careful with these forms to avoid confusion.

Let's practice using the "preterite" (simple one time events in the past). We'll use the following verbs for practice.

trabajar to work
vender to sell
comprar to buy
tomar to take (consume)
llevar to take (carry)
comer to eat
ver to see

I worked in the office yesterday.
Did you work in the office yesterday?
Mary worked in the office yesterday.
We worked in the office yesterday.
The employees (empleados) worked in the office yesterday.
I sold the car (carro) yesterday.
Did you sell the car yesterday?
John sold the car yesterday.
We sold the car yesterday.
They sold the car yesterday.
I bought the tickets yesterday.
Did you buy the tickets yesterday?
Mary bought the tickets yesterday.
We bought the tickets yesterday.
The boys bought the tickets yesterday.
I took the medicine.
Did you take the medicine?
John took the medicine.
We took the medicine.
The girls took the medicine.
I carried the suitcases to the room.
Did you carry the suitcases to the room?
John carried the suitcases to the room.
We carried the suitcases to the room.
The boys carried the suitcases to the room.
I ate with Mary last night (anoche).
Did you eat with Mary last night?
John ate with Mary last night.
We ate with Mary last night.
The girls ate with Mary last night.
I saw the film (película).
Did you see the film?
John saw the film.
We saw the film.
The boys saw the film.
I wrote the letter (carta) this morning (esta mañana).
Did you write the letter this morning?
Mary wrote the letter this morning.
We wrote the letter this morning.
The girls wrote the letter this morning.

Yo trabajé en la oficina ayer.

¿ Trabajaste en la oficina ayer?

María trabajó en la oficina ayer.

Nosotros trabajamos en la oficina ayer.

Los empleados trabajaron en la oficina ayer.

Yo vendí el carro ayer.

¿ Vendiste el carro ayer?

Juan vendió el carro ayer.

Nosotros vendimos el carro ayer.

Ellos vendieron el carro ayer.

Yo compré los boletos ayer.

¿ Compraste los boletos ayer?

María compró los boletos ayer.

Nosotros compramos los boletos ayer.

Los muchachos compraron los boletos ayer.

Yo tomé la medicina.

¿ Tomaste la medicina?

Juan tomó la medicina.

Nosotros tomamos la medicina.

Las muchachas tomaron la medicina.

Yo llevé las maletas al cuarto.

¿ Llevaste las maletas al cuarto?

Juan llevó las maletas al cuarto.

Nosotros llevamos las maletas al cuarto.

Los muchachos llevaron las maletas al cuarto.

Yo comí con María anoche.

¿ Comiste con María anoche?

Juan comió con María anoche.

Nosotros comimos con María anoche.

Las muchachas comieron con María anoche.

Yo ví la película.

¿ Viste la película?

Juan vió la película.

Nosotros vimos la película.

Los muchachos vieron la película.

Yo escribí la carta esta mañana.

¿ Escribiste la carta esta mañana?

Mar¿a escribió la carta esta mañana.

Nosotros escribimos la carta esta mañana.

Las muchachas escribieron la carta esta mañana.

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