Lesson 64: Past Tense: The dot in the past with 'er' and 'ir' verbs
We know how to refer to that dot in the past, events that happened at a particular moment, with I/he/she/it/we/you (formal). Time to see how to do this for 'you' (informal) and 'they'
But first lets get to know how to say when that dot in the past was!
Hace
We've come across 'hacer' before - "to do" / "to make".
 Spanish |  English |
|---|---|
| hace | He/she/it/you (informal) make/do |
This is what we used when we refer to the past - In Spanglish we say "I saw him it makes 2 weeks"
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| hace dos semanas | Two weeks ago |
| Lo vi hace dos semanas | I saw him two weeks ago |
'Responder' - "to respond"
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Respondí | I responded |
| Le respondí | I responded to her |
| Le respondí hace seite semanas | I responded to her seven weeks ago |
Now when we respond in Spanish we keep it simple - "Her it I responded" - where "it" might be a message/email/etc. So - "I responded to him the mail". This is different to English where we are always trying to get in the ownership thing (posssive words) - "her email", "his message", etc.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Se lo respondí | I responded to her [thing] |
| Se lo respondí hace un mes | I responded to her [thing] one month ago |
Remember from the last lesson 'le' changes to 'se' because Spanish doesn't like to 'l' words coming together in this situation.
Now always useful when we meet a new verb to run the mental exercise of just thinking out the other forms.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Respondió | He/she/it/you (informal) responded |
| Respondimos | We responded |
To discriminate
A quick practice and reminder of how to find Spanish verbs from English words.
- Is there a 'tion' version? - yes, "discrimination".
- So take off the 'tion' and add an 'r' - - 'discriminar ("To discriminate")
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Discriminé | I discriminated |
| Discriminó | He/she/it/you (formal) discriminated |
| Discriminamos | We discriminated |
You (informal) for the dot in the past.
So the verbs change as follows:
- For 'ar' verbs we take off the 'ar' and add 'aste' - 'hablaste' ("You spoke").
- For 'er'/'ir' verbs we take off teh 'er'/'ir' and add 'iste' - 'comiste' ("You ate").
Personally I also like the other shortcut:
- You take the 'you' form of the verb in the present tense and add 'te'.
- 'Hablas' -> 'Hablaste'
- 'Comis' -> 'Comiste'
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hablaste | You spoke |
| Comiste | You ate |
| ¿Comiste? | Did you eat? |
| ¿No comiste? | Didn't you eat? |
| ¿No lo comiste? | Didn't you eat it? |
| ¿Saliste? | Did you leave / go out? |
| ¿Saliste anoche? | Did you go out last night? |
| ¿No saliste anoche? | Didn't you go out last night? |
| ¿Dónde viviste? | Where did you live? |
| ¿Dónde vivías? | Where were you living? |
So this last one is more the line in the past as it is in English.
- "Where did you live when that happened?" (DOT)
- "Where were you living when you met her?" (LINE then DOT)
OK, let's look at this with those little words!
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Esperaste | You waited |
| ¿Me esperaste? | Did you wait for me? |
| ¿No me esperaste? | Didn't you wait for me? |
| ¿Por qué no me esperaste? | Why didn't you wait for me? |
| ¿Cuándo llegaste? | When did you arrive? |
They / you guys for the dot in the past.
So the verbs change as follows:
- For 'ar' verbs we take off the 'ar' and add 'aron' - 'hablaron' ("They spoke").
- For 'er'/'ir' verbs we take off the 'er'/'ir' and add 'ieron' - 'comieron' ("They ate").
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hablaron | They spoke |
| Esperaron | They waited |
| Lo prepararon | They prepared it |
| Comieron | They ate |
| Salieron | They left / went out |
| Los vendieron | They sold them |
Hablar recap
OK, lets just run through all the forms for 'hablar' - an 'ar' verb - when we are talking about a dot in the past:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hablé | I spoke |
| Habló | He/she/it/you (formal) spoke |
| Hablamos | We spoke |
| Hablaste | You (informal) spoke |
| Hablaron | They spoke |
Comir recap
And the same for 'Comir' - an 'er'/'ir' verb - when we are talking about a dot in the past:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Comí | I ate |
| Comió | He/she/it/you (formal) ate |
| Comimos | We ate |
| Comiste | You (informal) ate |
| Comieron | They ate |