Best way to study preterite and imperfect conjugations?

[EK271971]

Hola all!

I have been studying Spanish for several months now (courtesy Rosetta Stone and Livemocha) and I have recently encountered preterite and imperfect forms of verbs. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about the best way to learn/remember all of the conjugations.

Does anyone believe a paper with the verbs I know and all their conjugations would be a good way to learn? Or perhaps just memorizing the different endings to each verb in preterite and imperfect form would be better?

I am grateful for any advice. As a native English speaker, all of these conjugations can be overwhelming at times. Thank you!

~Eric

[Rusty]

Welcome!!!


Both of these past tenses are very important to learn and master.

The imperfect tense has only three irregular verbs (ir, ser, and ver). Other than those, the verbs are easy to conjugate. There are websites, including this one, that list the conjugation endings. You need to memorize one set of endings for the -AR verbs, and another set of endings for the -ER/-IR verbs.

You also need to memorize two different sets of endings for the preterite tense - one for the -AR verbs, and one for the -ER/-IR verbs - but the preterite tense has many irregular verbs. You'll need to commit those to memory (generally, only the stem needs to be memorized - the normal preterite verb endings apply). The most common verbs are usually the irregular verbs in the preterite.

If you want to supplement your learning with a visit to a couple of websites, I could recommend a few. But I would just learn the endings and practice, practice, practice.

[bobjenkins]

El pretérito , en mi opinión, es el tiempo verbal más fácil.

En más casos sólo tienes que añadir "ía" y "aba"

Haber -

Yo había
Tú habías
Nosotros habíamos
Vosotros habíais
Ellos habían
Ella había

Estar -

Yo Estaba
Tú Estabas
Nosotros Estábamos
Vosotros Estabais
Ellos Estaban
Ella Estaba

.....................

El pretérito es un poco más difícil porque hay muchas verbos irregulares y cambios de ortografía.

Primero los verbos no irregulares..

Correr -
Yo corrí
Tú corriste
Nosotros corrimos
Vosotros corristeis
Ellos corrieron
Ella corrió

Encontrar
Yo encontré
Tú encontraste
Nosotros encontramos
Vosotros encontrasteis
Ellos encontraron
Ella encontró

--------------
Y ya los verbos irregulares, aquí están unos....

(conjugados en la primera persona del pretérito)
Estar ------ estuv --------- yo estuve
Tener ----- tuve -----------yo tuve
Hacer ----- hic ------------yo hice
Querer ---- quis ---------- yo quise
Decir ----- dij --------------yo dije
Haber ----- hub -----------yo hube visto
Saber ---- sup ------------yo supe
Andar ---- anduv --------- yo anduve
Poner ---- pus ------------yo puse
Poder ---- pud ------------yo pude
Caber ---- cup ------------yo cupe
Venir ---- vin -------------yo vine
Traer ---- traj ------------yo traje
(Nota que esos cambios ocurren en el imperfecto del subjuntivo (Pudiera / estuviera / quisiera))
Los verbos tienen sus mismas conjugaciones ,
Yo (-e) -------------- yo hice nada
Tú (-iste) ------------ tú lo supiste
Nosotros (-imos) ----- pudimos nada
Vosotros (-isteis) ---- tuvisteis dos gatos
Ellos (-ieron) --------vinieron tarde
Él (o) (no accento) --djio nada

-------------
Ten cuidado con cambios en las conjugaciones en la primera persona del pretérito.... Ellos existen para que se pueda mantener el sonido original del infinitivo...

Los verbos que terminan con "car" , "gar" y "zar"

Buscar
Yo busqué

Castigar
Yo castigué

Tranquilizar
Yo tranquilicé


Espero que te ayuden los ejemplos

[cmon]

Have you tried Quizlet.com? You can make up your own Spanish quizzes or use ones that others have created. And it's all for free! Wonderful site, I've been drilling myself to death with verb conjugations and everything Spanish for months now. Extremely addictive and tons of fun!

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Rusty

If you want to supplement your learning with a visit to a couple of websites, I could recommend a few. But I would just learn the endings and practice, practice, practice.

Rusty - I would be interested in a list of those websites!

[Rusty]

Here is a link to Part I (of VI), for the preterite.
Here is a link to Part I (of II), for the imperfect.
Both of these links take you to the same unit (visible to the left when you navigate there). You can start with the very first lesson in that unit.

Here is a place that looks fun (games and challenges to the left).


I think you already know most of the material taught, but it never hurts to review.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by rusty

here is a link to part i (of vi), for the preterite.
Here is a link to part i (of ii), for the imperfect.
Both of these links take you to the same unit (visible to the left when you navigate there). You can start with the very first lesson in that unit.

Here is a place that looks fun (games and challenges to the left).


I think you already know most of the material taught, but it never hurts to review.

thanks!!!

[EK271971]

Thank you all very much for your advice! I will definitely look into the websites, and I will keep working hard, I know it does not come easy!