CSG053

42

Complete Spanish Grammar

ejercicio

Un misterio. Escńbe en el posado. Change the verb in italics to the preterit tense.

1.    El detective Martfnez lee una carta anonima. _

2.    En la carta, el autor incluye noticias acerca de un caso muy misterioso y dificil.

3.    Martfnez intuye la identidad del autor de la carta. _

4.    Sus asistentes distribuyen copias de la carta a los oficiales. _

5.    La carta contńbuye a resolver un caso muy complicado. _

6.    Todos concluyen que Martfnez siempre gana. _

Stem-Changiiig Verbs in the Preterit

As in the present tense, there is a pattern of stem changes in the Spanish preterit. Remember that:

•    -ar verbs with stem changes in the present tense do not have stem changes in the preterit.

•    -ir verbs with stem changes in the present tense also have stem changes in the preterit.

The changes in the preterit for -ir verbs are as follows: e changes to i and o changes to u, only in the third-person singular and plural forms.

pedir (to ask for)	dormir (to sleep)	preferir (toprefer)
pedi pedimos pediste pedisteis pidió pidieron	dormi dormimos dormiste dormisteis durmió durmieron	preferi preferimos preferiste preferisteis prefirió prefirieron

Study the following verbs conjugated like pedir, dormir, and preferir.

Yerbs like pedir		Yerbs like dormir	Yerbs like preferir
conseguir convertir reir repetir seguir servir sonreir(se) vestir(se)	to get to change to laugh to repeat to follow to serve to smile to get dressed	morir to die	divertir(se) mentir sentir	to have fun to lie (tell a falsehood) to feel; to be sorry

Observe the conjugation of reir and sonreir in the preterit. Ali the forms except the third-person plural of reir and sonreir have a written accent mark.