[Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

Probably not all that helpful, as it's been about 8 years since my last Spanish class... but IIRC, commands are done in 3rd person present tense... like "Walk the dog." instead of "Would you walk the dog?" or "Please walk the dog." where in both of the later cases, there is a "you" either directly or assumed in the phrase. The 1st also has a you, but it's handled as a general command, which is done in 3rd person and not 2nd.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

I'll try to explain this as simply as possible. There are 2 types of commands: Formal(Ud/Uds/Nosotros) and Familiar(Tú).

Formal
Just use the opposite ending of the present tense verb. If it's an -ar verb then use an -er/ir ending and vice versa. I'll use the verb "Hablar" for example:
Hable con el profesor. (Speak to the professor)
To turn that into a negative command, just add "no" before the verb.

Familiar
Tú commands are even easier. They have the same form as the 3rd person present indicative. I'll use the verb "Viajar" for example:
Viaja a los Estados Unidos. (Travel to the United States)
To turn that into a negative command, add "no" before the verb and use the opposite ending just like it was a formal command.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

You gave an example of an irregular affirmative tú command, but that's not the rule for all commands.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

Preterite Tense: ER and IR: (Regular)
ia (i has an accent)
ias (accent on the i as well)
ia (accent on the i as well)
iamos
ian (accent on the i as well)

The tu positive command takes the subjunctive "tu" form of the verb, while the tu negative takes the present "tu" form, and uses a no in front of it.

Example:
+: hables
-: No hablas

Uds, Ud, and Nosotros all use their respective forms of the verb in the present tense. Just remember to add "no" to the negative forms of the commands.

I'm doing verb charts in Spanish III right now, so I don't know what the exact usage of the commands are.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

This is not preterite tense. It's called imperfect tense and is usually used for a repeated or habitual action. Preterite tense also has a ton of irregulars that really just have to be memorized.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

1) Regular Verbs
In Spanish, the preterit is used to describe events and actions that took place and were completed in the past within a specific time frame:

For example: yesterday, last week, last year, etc.:
Conjugating ar verbs (tomar) and er / ir verbs (comer / vivir)

Verbs ending in car, gar, and zar have a spelling change in the Yo form of the preterit in order to preserve the sound of the stem.

The verbs leer (to read) and oir (to hear) have a change in the third person singular and plural endings. The i changes to y.


2) Irregulares Verbs: Dar, Ser and Ir
In the preterit, the verb dar is an ar verb that uses ir endings with no accents.

In the preterit, the verbs Ser (to be) and Ir (to go) are conjugated the same. They have identical, but irregular endings.


3) Stem Changing Verbs in the Preterit
Only ir verbs are stem-changing verbs in the Preterit.

This group of verbs change from o > u and e > i only in the third person singular (él/ella/Ud) and plural (ellos/ ellas/Ustedes).


4) More Irregular Verbs in Preterit
Besides Ser, Ir and Dar, there are some other irregular verbs in the preterit.

With the exception of the third person plural (ellos/ellas/Uds) of verb traer, and decir (-jeron)and the third person singular of hacer (c > z) the rest of the irregular verbs all have the same endings.


5) Changing Meaning in the Preterit
Some irregular verbs in the preterit change meaning.
For example, the verbs: poder, querer, tener and saber.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

Are you sure...? I thought you had to flip the ending and add 's' like
No hables a nosotros - Don't talk to us.

Thanks, everyone. I think I get it now.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

Irregular verbs
They drop the ending and use the rest.

Ex: Venir -> Ven, Poner -> Pon

Regular Verbs

The regular verbs just use the third person form as Tass mentioned.

Ex: Hablar -> Habla, Esciribir -> Escribe, Comer -> Come

Negative Commands

Negative commands use the informal you form of the verb, but you add "No" in front of the verb, as well as change the ending vowel.

Ex: Hablar -> No hables, Comer -> No comas, Esciribir -> No escribas.

Just in case for other help.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

lol

SAL CONMIGO

I get it now. devonin, feel free to close the thread.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

STOP

A lot of you are horribly wrong and your posts are completely unorganized!

If you aren't certain, don't say anything.

For the record:

- PinoySkillz is almost right. The negative tú form has an s at the end. It's basically the "opposite" ending of the SECOND person, not third (he doesn't clarify).

- KgZ is incorrect with the él/ella/ud. form of -ir. The i has an accent. I think some books teach it as not having an accent, though, so check with your teacher on that one. He's also wrong with the nosotros form of -ar, which is -amos. Lastly, KgZ is wrong about commands.

- GamerShadow's post is a mess and mmeegghhaann is correct. Ignore it. He's mixing up the preterit with the imperfect--a tense you haven't learned yet. Worse still, the nosotros form of the imperfect has an accent on the i. He's also explaining the command forms with something you haven't learned yet called the "subjunctive mood."

- madmatt621's post is a mess. Also ignore it, but more out of being extremely vague and giving you information you probably don't need yet.

- SonicMaster is only talking about informal commands.

- Tass's post is so incomplete and uncertain of itself that it should be completely disregarded.




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HERE is what you want. I'm sorry to devonin or anyone else if it's too short and "lol herez da ansurs" but you guys are really not helping the poor guy. There's no way to "point him in the right direction." Just give him the goods.

Preterit for regular verbs:

-ar

é
aste
ó
amos
asteis
aron

-er and -ir

í
iste
ió
imos
isteis
ieron

Tú commands for regular verbs:

Positive

-ar --> a
-er/ir --> e

Negative

-ar --> no ____es
-er/ir --> no ____as

Ud./Uds. command for regular verbs:

Positive

-ar --> e
-er/ir --> a

Negative

-ar --> no ____e
-er/ir --> no ____a



(((Read this only if you've learned reflexive verbs or direct/indirect object pronouns, else it will confuse you: for positive commands the pronoun gets attached to the end of a verb and an accent is added to keep the same pronunciation. For negative commands, it is treated like any other verb--it goes between the "no" and the "verb" and the pronoun is a separate word.)))

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Note that these are not the ABSOLUTE and TECHNICALLY CORRECT rules. They apply to most verbs and they're how you're going to learn as of now (I safely assume that this is your second year of Spanish). The real rules for commands requires knowing the subjunctive mood--something you shouldn't worry about now, trust me! And there are also a few exceptions with some commands and a LOT of exceptions with the preterit. (The stem changes you learned for the present tense are different than the ones used for the preterit!) But you probably don't need to know those right now. This is only to help you catch up with the rest of the class.

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For all your Spanish grammar needs:




These sites are both extremely comprehensive and correct.

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

I know that this was posted a while ago and this may not help you now, but it is VERY important to know. The last post was almost exacly correct, EXCEPT for the accenting of preterite verbs. For verbs that end in -er and -ir, there IS an accent on the third person, it is on the o. Hope this helps

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

This Helps Soo Much!

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

By the way, I learned -er and -ir like this:

í
iste
ió
imos
isteis
ieron

I guess it's all a controversy now if they're both correct.

The third person doesn't even take an accent in some cases such as "reírse." (i.e. se rio )

However, that wouldn't necessarily make it irregular since it has taken an accent in the 3rd on the o in the past.

Modern Spanish says otherwise since it doesn't have accents. But then again, the majority of my book is written by native English speakers.

Lol at letters "ch" and "ll."[/point]

Re: [Highschool - Spanish] Preterite tense and commands...?

Oh, darn, you're right. In retrospect, I'm surprised I made that mistake.