PMP Complete Spanish Grammar - 4.3 (preterite)

leer

to read

caer(se)

to fall (to fall yourself down)

[Take care not to fall.]

creer

to believe

poseer

to own, possess

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

oír

to hear

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

desoír

to ignore

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

construer

to finish; to construct

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

concluir

to conclude, close, finish

contribuir

to contribute

distribuir

to distribute

huir

to flee

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

incluir

to include

intuir

to feel, have a sense; to have intuition

pedir

to ask for, to petition

conseguir

to get

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

convertir

to change

reír

to laugh

[We laugh at something “re”diculous.]

repetir

to repeat

seguir

to follow

servir

to serve

sonreír(se)

to smile

[“Don’t laugh at me, son. Wipe that smirk off yourself.”]

vestirse

to get dressed (to dress self)

[When you get dressed you vesture your body.]

dormir

to sleep

morir

to die

[More rear is to die for.]

preferir

to prefer

divertirse

to have fun (to divert yourself)

[You have fun when you divert your attention to fun.]

mentir

to lie (tell a falsehood)

sentir

to feel; to be sorry; to sense

reír

to laugh

sonreír

to smile

andar | anduve

to walk | I walked

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

estar | estuve

to be | I was

tener | tuve

to have | I had

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

caber | cupe

to fit | I fitted

[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)

poder | pude

to be able | I was able

poner | puse

to put | I put

[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

[I knew it was soupy.]

hacer | hice

to do | I did

querer | quise

to want | I wanted

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

venir | vine

to come | I came

atraer | atraje

to attract | I attracted

decir | dije

to say | I said

producir | produje

to produce | I produced

[You can produce, sir, eh.]

traer | traje

to bring | I brought

traducir | traduje

to translate | I translated

componer

to repair; to compose

disponer

to arrange; to dispose

suponer

to assume, suppose

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

deshacer

to undo

rehacer

to make over; to rebuild

convenir

to agree

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

desdecir

to disagree (to speak against)

predecir

to predict

reproducir

to reproduce

atraer

to attract (to bring toward)

distraer

to distract