The document summarizes the present tense and differences between the imperfect and preterite tenses in Spanish grammar. It outlines how to form the present tense of regular and irregular verbs, discusses stem changing verbs and uses of ser and estar. It also explains how to distinguish between the imperfect and preterite tenses based on whether an action is ongoing or completed in the past and provides conjugations of common regular and irregular verbs in both tenses.

1. Grammar
Book
Megan McFeron

2. El Presente
Regular –ar, -er, -ir verbs
 The present tense of regular verbs is formed
by dropping the infinitive ending –ar, -er, or -ir
and adding personal endings
 The present tense is used to express actions or
situations that are going on at the present
time and to express general truths
 Also used to express habitual actions or
actions that will take place in the near future

3. El Presente
Regular –ar, -er, -ir verbs
-ar -er/-ir
-o -o
-as -es
-a -e
-amos -emos
-aís -eís
-an -en

4. El Presente
Stem changing verbs
 Some verbs have stem changes in the present
tense. In many –ar and –er verbs, e changes
to ie and o changes to i, and u changes to
ue. The nosotros/as and vosotros/as never
have stem changes in the present tense.
 Construir, destruir, incluir, and influir add a y
before the personal endings. The nosotros/as
and vosotros/as forms still do not change.

5. El Presente
Irregular yo forms
 Many –er and –ir verbs have irregular yo forms
in the present tense. Verbs ending in –cer or –
cir change to –zco in the yo form; those
ending in –ger or –gir change to –jo. Several
verbs have irregular –go endings, and a few
have individual irregularities.
 Caber- yo quepo; saber- yo sé; ver- yo veo
 Verbs with prefixes follow the same patterns
(reconocer- yo reconozco; deshacer yo
deshago)

6. El Presente
Irregular verbs
 Other commonly used verbs in Spanish
are irregular in the present tense or
combine a stem-change with an irrefular
to form or other spelling change

7. El Presente
Ser y estar
 Both mean to be, but they are not interchangeable.
 With most descriptive adjectives, either ser or estar
can be used, but the meaning of each statement is
different.
 Some adjectives have two different meanings
depending on if they are used with ser or estar.
Ser
 Ser shows nationality and place of origin, profession
or occupation, characteristics of people, animals
and things, generalizations, possession, material of
composition, time, date or season, or where or when
an event takes place.
 Ser is used to express the idea of permanence.
 Ser is used with adjectives to describe inherent,
expected qualities.

8. El Presente
Estar
 Estar is used to express temporality.
 Estar shows location or spatial relationships,
health, physical states and conditions,
emotional states, certain weather expression,
ongoing actions, or results of actions.
 Estar is used to describe temporary or variable
qualities, or a change in appearance or
condition.
 Estar is always used with muerto.

9. El Presente
Verbos como gustar
 Gustar means to please.
 Gustar agrees in person and number with the thing or
person that pleases that is the subject.
 When gustar is followed by one or more verbs in the
infinitive, the singular form of gustar is always used.
 Gustar is often used in the conditional to soften a request.
 Many verbs follow the same pattern (aburrir, caer
bien/mal, disgustar, doler, encantar, faltar, fascinar, hacer
falta, importar, interesar, molestar, preocupar, quedar,
sorprender, apetecer)
 The construction a + [prepositional pronoun] or a + [noun]
can be used to emphasize who is pleased, bothered, etc.
 Faltar expressed what someone or something lacks and
quedar expressed what someone or something has left.
Quedar is also used to talk about how clothing fits or looks
on someone.

10. Imperfect vs. Preterite
Imperfect Preterite
• Used for actions • Used for actions
in the past that in the past that
are not seen as are seen as
complete complete
• The past action • The past action
did not have a has a definite
definite ending ending and
or beginning beginning
• In general • Specific

11. Imperfect vs. Preterite
 Some words signal the use of preterite or imperfect.
Preterite- ayer, anteayer, anoche, desde el primer
momento, durante dos siglos, el otro día, en ese
momento, entonces, esta mañana, esta tarde, la
semana pasada, el mes pasado, el año pasado, hace
dos días, años, ayer por la mañana, ayer por la tarde
Imperfect- a menudo, a veces, cada día, cada
semana, cada mes, cada año, con frecuencia, de vez
en cuando, en aquella época, frecuentemente,
generalmente, muchas veces, mucho, nunca, por un
rato, siempre, tantas veces, todas las semanas, todos
los días, todo el tiempo, varias veces

12. Imperfect vs. Preterite
Regular Imperfect
-ar -er/-ir
-aba -ía
-abas -ías
-aba -ía
-ábamos -íamos
-abais -íais
-aban -ían

13. Imperfect vs. Preterite
Irregular Imperfect
ir ser ver
Iba Era Veía
Ibas Eras Veías
Iba Era Veía
Ibamos Éramos Veíamos
Ibais Erais Veíais
Iban Eran Veían

14. Imperfect vs. Preterite
Regular Preterite
-ar -ir/-er
-é -í
-aste -iste
-ó -ió
-amos -imos
-asteis -isteis
-aron -ieron

15. Imperfect vs. Preterite
Irregular Preterite
ser ir dar hacer decir traer ver
Fui Fui Di Hice Dije Traje Vi
Fuiste Fuiste Diste Hiciste Dijiste Trajiste Viste
Fue Fue Dio Hizo Dijo Trajo Vio
Fuemos Fuimos Dimos Hicimos Dijimos Trajimos Vimos
Fuisteis Fuisteis Disteis Hicisteis Dijisteis Trajisteis Visteis
Fueron Fueron Dieron Hicieron Dijeron Trajeron Vieron

16. Imperfect vs. Preterite
Irregular Preterite (Verbs ending in –car, -
gar, or –zar)
 -car: c qu
 -gar: g gu
 -zar: z c

17. Impefect vs. Preterite
Irregular Preterite (verbs ending in -aer, -eer,
-oír, or –oer)
-í -ímos
-íste -ísteis
-yó -yeron
 Verbs that end in -uir change in the same
way, but the accent only occurs in the yo
form.

18. Imperfect vs. Preterite
Irregular Preterite (verbs ending in –ucir)
-je -jimos
-jiste -jiste
-jo -jeron

19. Imperfect vs. Preterite
Irregular Preterite
andar anduv-
estar estuv-
-e -imos
tener tuv-
caber cup- -iste -isteis
haber hub- -o -ieron
poder pud-
poner pus-
saber sup-
hacer hic-
querer quis-
venir vin-