Reference · module 10
The verbs that refuse
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Dije, traje, vine
Use the past of the verbs you say most.
- decir, traer, venir, poner, saber, querer all build their past on a changed stem: dije, traje, vine, puse, supe, quise.
- They all take the same endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. And none of them carries an accent anywhere.
- A stem ending in j drops the i of -ieron: dijeron, trajeron. Only that group does it, and it is worth noticing once.
The mistake you are about to make
dijieron
dijeron
The group ending is -ieron, so it arrives whole. After a stem ending in j the i drops: dijeron, trajeron.
Pidió, durmió
Use the -ir verbs that change in the third person.
- Some -ir verbs change a vowel in the past, and only in the third person: pedir gives pidió and pidieron, but pedí and pediste stay.
- The e becomes i and the o becomes u: pedir, servir, preferir, sentir take i; dormir and morir take u.
- Only -ir verbs do this. An -ar or -er verb with the same vowels does not: volver gives volvió with the o untouched.
The mistake you are about to make
pedió
pidió
Pedí and pediste keep their e, so it looks stable. The third person switches it to i: pidió, pidieron.
Asking about the past
Ask what happened.
- A past question needs nothing added: ¿Fuiste al cine? Spanish has no did, so the verb simply goes into the past.
- ¿Qué pasó? asks what happened, and pasar is the verb for it. ¿Qué te pasó? adds who it happened to.
- The question words keep their accents: ¿Cuándo llegaste? ¿Dónde estuviste? Each opens the sentence and the verb follows.
The mistake you are about to make
¿Hiciste ir al cine?
¿Fuiste al cine?
English asks with did, so a helper verb gets built. Spanish has none: the main verb just goes into the past.
Holidays
Say what you did at the weekend.
- fui a un restaurante, fui de compras, me quedé en casa, visité a mis padres, saqué fotos. Five phrases and a weekend is described.
- visitar takes a before a person: visité a mis padres. That a is the personal a, and Spanish uses it before every human object.
- estar de vacaciones means to be on holiday, and ir de vacaciones means to go on one. The de is fixed in both.
The mistake you are about to make
Visité mis padres.
Visité a mis padres.
"I visited my parents" has no preposition. Spanish puts the personal a before a human object: visité a mis padres.