PMP Complete Spanish Grammar - 4.3 (preterite)

leer | leyó

to read | he read

caer | cayó

to fall | he fell

[Take care not to fall.]

creer | creyó

to believe | he believed

[What you believe in your creed is so naive it should be written with a crayon.]

poseer | poseyó

to own, possess | he owned

[If you own the po that you see, you are a po seer.]

oír | oyó

to hear | he heard

[I hear what you are saying but, “Oh, ear.”]

desoír | desoyó

to ignore | he ignored

[To ignore is to despair to hear with your ear, my boyo.]

construer | construyó

to finish; to construct | he finished

[A contractor is a constructer of a house and hopefully finishes it. At least, that’s what I construed from our contract.]

concluir | concluyó

to conclude, close, finish | he concluded

contribuir | contribuyó

to contribute | he contributed

distribuir | distribuyó

to distribute | he distributed

huir | huyó

to flee | he fled

[The fewer the hewer, the less the tree flee.]

incluir | incluyó

to include | he included

intuir | intuyó

to feel, have a sense; to have intuition | he sensed

pedir | pidió

to ask for, to petition | he asked for

conseguir | consiguió

to get | he got

[A con man follows a mark in order to get the opportunity.]

convertir | convirtió

to change | he changed

[A converter changes something to something else.]

reír | rió

to laugh | he laughed

[We laugh at something “re”diculous.]

repetir | repitió

to repeat | he repeated

seguir | siguió

to follow | he followed

servir | sirvió

to serve | he served

sonreír | sonrió

to smile | he smiled

[“Don’t laugh at me, son. Wipe that smirk off your rear, or I’ll kick it all the way to Rio.”]

vestirse | se vistió

to get dressed (to dress self) | he dressed (himself)

[When you get dressed you vesture your body.]

dormir | durmió

to sleep | he slept

morir | murió

to die | he died

[“More rear is to die for,” said Mario.]

preferir | prefirió

to prefer | he preferred

divertirse | se divirtió

to have fun | he had fun

[You have fun when you divert yourself to fun.]

mentir | mintió

to lie | he lied

[When they lie, men tears are not minty.]

sentir | sintió

to feel; to regret; to sense (I) | he regretted

[I regret that the scent was such a sin.]

andar | anduve

to walk | I walked (U)

[Ann likes to ambulate through the Andes. She sleeps with a pillow and a duvet.]

estar | estuve

to be | I was (U)

tener | tuve

to have | I had (U)

[“If I had a tenner for every time you pulled off the duvet…”]

caber | cupe

to fit | I fitted (U)

[After he fit two bottles of Cabernet in his saddle, he flew the coop.]

haber | hube

have; must (with de), there is | I had (before past participle) (U)

poder | pude

to be able | I was able (U)

poner | puse

to put | I put (U)

[Fred Flintstone said to Wilma, “I put the pussycat out, but it jumped back in the window and put me outside.!”]

saber | supe

to know | I knew (U)

[I knew it was soupy.]

hacer | hice

to do | I did (I)

querer | quise

to want | I wanted (I)

[Wanting to be a good carer can sometimes make you a bit queasy.]

venir | vine

to come | I came (I)

atraer | atraje

to attract | I attracted (J)

decir | dije

to say | I said (J)

producir | produje

to produce | I produced (J)

[You can produce, sir, eh.]

traer | traje

to bring | I brought (J)

traducir | traduje

to translate | I translated (J)

componer | compuse

to repair; to compose (U) | I composed

disponer | dispuse

to arrange; to dispose (U) | I arranged

suponer | supuse

to assume, suppose (U) | I assumed

[The drill sergeant at a posh military school: “Assume the supine position.”]

deshacer | deshice

to undo (I) | I undid

rehacer | rehice

to make over; to rebuild (I) | I rebuilt

convenir | convine

to agree (I) | I agreed

[“I did not agree to convene this meeting. Couldn’t it be done by a simple email? Through the grapevine would be better.”]

desdecir | desdije

to deny (to unspeak) (J) | I denied

predecir | predije

to predict (J) | I predicted

reproducir | reproduje

to reproduce | I reproduced

atraer | atraje

to attract (to bring toward) | I attracted

distraer | distraje

to distract (pull away attention) | I distracted