Lesson 58: Past Tense: The dot in the past with 'ar' verbs
So we've covered talking about periods of time in the past - 'I used to go' - now we're going to look at how we talk about a specific moment in the past - 'I spoke'
To get familiar with this type of past we'll use 'hablar' to represent 'ar' verbs and 'comer' to represent 'er'/'ir' verbs. If you remember these two then they will become your perfect hooks for remembering how to change all verbs.
'ar' verbs - Hablar
- To get "I spoke" - take off the 'ar' and add 'é' - 'Hablé'
- To get "He/she/it/you (formal) spoke" - take off the 'ar' and add 'ó' - 'Habló'
 Spanish |  English |
|---|---|
| Hablé | I spoke |
| Habló | He/she/it/you (informal) spoke |
Now this can look a little confusing - 'Hablo' means "I speak" while 'Habló' means "he/she/it spoke". The difference is subtle with that aceent on the last 'o' in the past tense form.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| No hablé | I didn't speak |
| No habló | He/she/you (formal) didn't speak |
| Habló conmigo | He/she/you (formal) spoke with me |
| Lo compré | I bought it |
| No lo compré | I didn't buy it |
| Lo compró | He bought it |
| Me lo compró | He bought it for me |
| Lo compró para mi | He bought it for me |
These last two different versions of saying "He bought it for me" are the same but we use the 'para mi' version when we want to emphasis that it was "for me".
Enviar - to send
You can remember 'Enviar' with the hooks of "Envelope" because that is something you send things in - or "Envoy", someone who is sent to deliver a message.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Lo envié | I eent it |
| Te lo envié | I sent it to you |
| No te lo envié | I didn't sent it to you |
| No te lo envié todavía | I didn't sent it to you yet |
| Lo envió ayer | He sent it yesterday |
| Se envió | It was sent (it sent itself) |
| Se envió ayer | It was sent yesterday |
So let's try a longer sentence - "I don't know why he didn't speak with me" - by breaking it down:
- "I don't know" - 'No sé'
- "why" - 'por que'
- "he didn't speak" - 'no habló'
- "with me" - 'conmigo'
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| No se por que no habló conmigo | I don't know why he didn't speak with me |
'Olvidar' - "to forget"
At first this one looks so difficult that it will be tricky to remember but listen to a few Spanish songs and you will hear it pop up over and over again - espcially on love songs.
For example its in the chorus of Échame la culpa - "Blame me" or more literally "Give me the blame" - where you can hear 'Es mejor olvirdar' - "Its better to forget"
Incidentally on the same line is 'Dejarlo así'. We've already seen 'así' means "like that". 'Dejarlo así' means "leave it like that" which is a pretty useful phrase to have.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Olvidé | I forgot |
| Olvidó | He forgot |
So let's try - "I was going to do it but I forgot it"
- "It I was going" - 'Lo iba'
- "to do" - 'hacer'
- "but" - 'pero'
- "I forgot it" - 'lo olvidé'
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Lo iba hacer pero lo olvidé | It I was going to do but I forgot it |