| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| "What movie did you see at the cinema last night?" |
| ¿Qué película (pause with a tap of the finger) en el cine anoche? |
| ¿Qué película (pause with a tap of the finger) en el cine anoche? |
| viste |
| viste |
| ¿Qué película viste en el cine anoche? |
| ¿Qué película viste en el cine anoche? |
| "What movie did you see at the cinema last night?" |
| We use viste as it's the tú form of ver in the preterite. vio means "he/she/you(formal) saw," not correct for tú. ver is the infinitive form "to see," not conjugated, so it doesn't fit grammatically. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| "Yesterday, my parents went to the market." |
| Ayer, mis padres (pause with a tap of the finger) al mercado. |
| Ayer, mis padres (pause with a tap of the finger) al mercado. |
| fueron |
| fueron |
| Ayer, mis padres fueron al mercado. |
| Ayer, mis padres fueron al mercado. |
| "Yesterday, my parents went to the market." |
| The subject is "mis padres," so we need the third-person plural form of the verb ir "to go" in the preterite tense, which is fueron. |
| fuimos means "we went," fui means "I went," they don't fit here. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| "I was a teacher for three years." |
| Yo (pause with a tap of the finger) maestra por tres años. |
| Yo (pause with a tap of the finger) maestra por tres años. |
| fui |
| fui |
| Yo fui maestra por tres años. |
| Yo fui maestra por tres años. |
| "I was a teacher for three years." |
| We use fui. It is the yo form of ser in the preterite. |
| ser is the infinitive form "to be," doesn't work in a sentence like this |
| fue means he/she/you (formal) was, doesn't match yo |
| Unscramble the words to make a sentence. |
| Ready? |
| Hicimos |
| Hicimos un |
| Hicimos un dibujo |
| Hicimos un dibujo en |
| Hicimos un dibujo en clase |
| Hicimos un dibujo en clase hoy. |
| "We made a drawing in class today." |
| Hicimos un dibujo en clase hoy. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Remember, we are practicing the preterite form! |
| Mi familia (fue or era) a la playa el fin de semana pasado. |
| Mi familia (fue or era) a la playa el fin de semana pasado. |
| fue |
| fue |
| Mi familia fue a la playa el fin de semana pasado. |
| "My family went to the beach last weekend." |
| Fue is used here because it's the third-person singular form of ir in the preterite tense. |
| era is the imperfect form of ser "was." It doesn't make sense to say "My family was to the beach…" — it's ungrammatical in both Spanish and English. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Remember, we are practicing the preterite form! |
| (Hacíamos or Hicimos) una fiesta para su cumpleaños. |
| (Hacíamos or Hicimos) una fiesta para su cumpleaños. |
| hicimos |
| hicimos |
| Hicimos una fiesta para su cumpleaños. |
| "We threw a party for his birthday." |
| Hicimos is the first-person plural form of hacer in the preterite tense. |
| Hacíamos is the imperfect form, which you'd use for repeated or habitual actions or ongoing background actions. But in this sentence, no such repetition or ongoing background is suggested — it's a one-time event. |
| Let's translate some sentences into Spanish. |
| Translate "Did you see the movie last night?" into Spanish. |
| ¿Viste, the second-person singular form of ver in the preterite tense, meaning "Did you see," |
| followed by |
| la película, meaning "the movie," |
| next |
| anoche, an adverb meaning "last night." |
| Viste is the preterite form of ver for tú "you." |
| ¿Viste la película anoche? |
| ¿Viste la película anoche? |
| "Did you see the movie last night?" |
| Translate "The party was very fun." into Spanish. |
| La fiesta, meaning "the party," is the subject of the sentence, |
| followed by |
| fue, the third-person singular form of ser in the preterite tense, meaning "was," |
| next |
| muy, an adverb meaning "very," |
| followed by |
| divertida, an adjective meaning "fun" (agreeing in gender with fiesta). |
| Fue is the preterite form of ser for he/she/it. |
| La fiesta fue muy divertida. |
| La fiesta fue muy divertida. |
| "The party was very fun." |
| Translate "I went to the zoo with my friends last weekend." into Spanish. |
| Fui, the first-person singular form of ir in the preterite tense, meaning "I went," |
| followed by |
| al zoológico, a contraction of a el zoológico, meaning "to the zoo," |
| next |
| con, a preposition meaning "with," |
| followed by |
| mis amigos, meaning "my friends," |
| next |
| el fin de semana, a time expression meaning "the weekend," |
| followed by |
| pasado, an adjective meaning "last." |
| Fui is the preterite form of ir for yo "I." |
| Fui al zoológico con mis amigos el fin de semana pasado. |
| Fui al zoológico con mis amigos el fin de semana pasado. |
| "I went to the zoo with my friends last weekend." |
| Listen to me as I speak. Which verb in the preterite form is used in the sentences? |
| Ayer, mis padres fueron al mercado. |
| Let's listen one more time. |
| Ayer, mis padres fueron al mercado. |
| Did you hear, fueron? |
| Fueron, meaning "they went," |
| is the third-person plural form of the verb ir in the preterite tense. |
| How about...? |
| Hicimos un dibujo en clase hoy. |
| Let's listen one more time. |
| Hicimos un dibujo en clase hoy. |
| Did you hear, hicimos? |
| Hicimos, meaning "we made," |
| is the first-person plural form of the verb hacer in the preterite tense. |
| Next… |
| La fiesta fue muy divertida. |
| One more time. |
| La fiesta fue muy divertida. |
| Did you hear, fue? |
| Fue, meaning "was," |
| is the third-person singular form of the verb ser in the preterite tense. |
| And... |
| ¿Viste la película anoche? |
| One more time. |
| ¿Viste la película anoche? |
| Did you hear, viste? |
| Viste, meaning "did you see," |
| is the second-person singular form of the verb ver in the preterite tense. |
| Thank you for watching. |
| Now you know how to use the preterite tense to talk about the past in Spanish. |
| ...and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway. |
| Nos vemos. |
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