A
key grammar concepts
THE PRETERITE OF “BOOT” VERBS
What happens to “boot” verbs in the preterite tense? Do all of the stem changes continue?
1. -AR and -ER “boot” verbs
There are no stem changes at all for -AR and -ER “boot” verbs! Hooray! Their preterite forms follow the exact pattern that you learned in the last lesson for regular -AR and -ER verbs.
CERRAR
(to close)
cerré
cerramos
cerraste
cerrasteis
cerró
cerraron
PERDER
(to lose)
perdí
perdimos
perdiste
perdisteis
perdió
perdieron
CONTAR
(to count)
conté
contamos
contaste
contasteis
contó
contaron
VOLVER
(to return)
volví
volvimos
volviste
volvisteis
volvió
volvieron
Helpful
Tip
As you can see, the vowels in the stem remain unchanged from the infinitive, with no variation in any form.
EXAMPLES
Goldilocks cerró la puerta después de entrar
en la casa de los osos.
Goldilocks shut the door after entering the bears’ house.
Volviste a casa muy tarde porque bailaste por tres horas.
You returned home very late because you danced for three hours.
Michelle Obama y yo nos sentamos en la misma mesa en la Casa Blanca.
Michelle Obama and I sat down at the same table at the White House.
2. -IR “BOOT” verbs
The –IR “boot” verbs, however, are different. They have a special change, found only in the 3rd person singular and 3rd person plural of the preterite: e → i or o → u. It’s only the sole (bottom) of the boot that changes. It now looks more like a slipper!
PEDIR
(to ask for)
pedi
pedimos
pediste
pedisteis
pidió
pidieron
DORMIR
(to sleep)
dormí
dormimos
dormiste
dormisteis
durmió
durmieron
SENTIR
(to feel)
sentí
sentimos
sentiste
sentisteis
sintió
sintieron
MORIR
(to die)
morí
morimos
moriste
moristeis
murió
murieron
Helpful
Tip
Obviously, it is important that you remember which -IR verbs are stem-changers and which are not. It is a good idea to review the list of those verbs presented in Lección Dos.
EXAMPLES
Anoche Miguel Cabrera durmió nueve horas.
Miguel Cabrera slept nine hours last night.
Jenni Rivera murió en 2012.
Jenni Rivera died in 2012.
Mis hermanos me pidieron el nuevo álbum de Calle 13.
My brothers asked me for the new Calle 13 album.
Ayer mi tía repitió el mismo chiste dos veces.
My aunt repeated the same joke twice
yesterday.
Cuando Fernando Verdasco sirvió muy fuerte, tú serviste muy mal.
When Fernando Verdasco served very strongly, you served poorly.
NOTE
Once again, did you notice that it is only the 3rd person singular and plural forms of -IR verbs that change in the preterite?
