A2 · Unit 9 · 39 words, 3 texts with translation
Apologize and explain what happened
Tell people what happened to you: explain, apologize, react with surprise and admit your mistakes. Use the most common irregular verbs in the preterite: estuve, tuve, hice, fui, vi, di.
Texts in this unit
Grammar in this unit
Preterite: irregular estar, tener, hacer
You already know the preterite of regular verbs: hablé, comí, viví (units 7 and 8). But the seven most common verbs go their own way. You can't say where you were or what happened to you without them, so we learn them separately. Let's start with three.
estar, tener and hacer get a new stem in the preterite and shared endings, with no written accent:
| Person | estar → estuv- | tener → tuv- | hacer → hic- |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | estuve | tuve | hice |
| tú | estuviste | tuviste | hiciste |
| él / ella / usted | estuvo | tuvo | hizo |
| nosotros | estuvimos | tuvimos | hicimos |
| vosotros | estuvisteis | tuvisteis | hicisteis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | estuvieron | tuvieron | hicieron |
- Ayer estuve en casa todo el día. — Yesterday I was at home all day.
- ¿Dónde estuviste el sábado? — Where were you on Saturday?
- Tuve un problema con el móvil. — I had a problem with my phone.
- ¿Qué hiciste anoche? — What did you do last night?
- Ayer hizo mucho frío. — It was very cold yesterday.
Common mistakes. It's tempting to follow the regular pattern: ✗ tení, ✗ hací, ✗ estó. These forms don't exist: it's only tuve, hice, estuvo. The stress falls on the stem, so there's no written accent: tuvo, not ✗ tuvó. And hizo is spelled with a z: with a c it would be read with a k sound.
Fui means "I was" and "I went": ser and ir
ser (to be) and ir (to go) have exactly the same forms in the preterite. That's handy: six words instead of twelve.
| Person | ser and ir | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| yo | fui | I was; I went |
| tú | fuiste | you were; you went |
| él / ella / usted | fue | he/she was, you (formal) were; he/she/you (formal) went |
| nosotros | fuimos | we were; we went |
| vosotros | fuisteis | you (plural) were; you (plural) went |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | fueron | they/you (plural formal) were; they/you (plural formal) went |
The words around it tell you which verb it is:
- if a and a place come next, it's ir: Ayer fui al médico — "Yesterday I went to the doctor." ¿Fuiste a la fiesta? — "Did you go to the party?"
- if it says who or what something was, or what it was like, it's ser: Fue un día horrible — "It was a horrible day." La fiesta fue muy divertida — "The party was a lot of fun." Fue un error — "It was a mistake."
A common mistake. Because fui can mean "I was" (ser), it's tempting to say ✗ fui en Madrid for "I was in Madrid". To say where you were, use estar: estuve en Madrid — "I was in Madrid". Fui a Madrid is "I went to Madrid".
No written accent: write fui and fue, not ✗ fuí, ✗ fué.
Short vi and di: ver and dar
In the preterite, ver (to see, to watch) and dar (to give) look like twins:
| Person | ver | dar |
|---|---|---|
| yo | vi | di |
| tú | viste | diste |
| él / ella / usted | vio | dio |
| nosotros | vimos | dimos |
| vosotros | visteis | disteis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | vieron | dieron |
What's unusual here:
daris an -ar verb, but it takes the endings of comer: di, diste, dio, not ✗ dé, ✗ daste, ✗ dó;- vi, vio, di, dio have only one syllable, so there's no written accent (compare comí, comió).
Examples:
- Ayer vi a Lucía en el mercado. — Yesterday I saw Lucía at the market.
- ¿Viste mi mensaje? — Did you see my message?
- El camarero me dio la cuenta. — The waiter gave me the check.
- Mis vecinos me dieron las llaves. — My neighbors gave me the keys.
dar has lots of set phrases, and you hear them all the time when people talk about what happened:
- Me dio vergüenza. — I was embarrassed. (Word for word, "it gave me embarrassment".)
- Me diste un susto. — You scared me.
- Me di prisa. — I hurried.
- Me di cuenta. — I realized. (darse cuenta, unit 8)
Don't mix them up: di is also "say!", the tú command of decir (unit 6). The meaning of the sentence tells you which one it is.
Words in this unit
el accidente — accident, crash
Vi un accidente en la calle. — I saw an accident on the street.
el susto — scare, fright
¡Qué susto! No te vi. — What a scare! I didn't see you.
la vergüenza — embarrassment, shame
Tengo vergüenza de hablar en público. — I'm shy about speaking in public.
explicar — to explain
¿Me puedes explicar esto? — Can you explain this to me?
preocuparse — to worry
Me preocupo mucho por mi madre. — I worry a lot about my mother.
disculparse — to apologize
Me disculpo por llegar tarde. — I apologize for being late.
pedir perdón — to apologize, to say sorry
Pido perdón por el error. — I apologize for the mistake.
asustado — scared, frightened
Estoy asustado, el perro es muy grande. — I'm scared, the dog is very big (man speaking).
sorprendido — surprised
Estoy muy sorprendido. — I'm very surprised (man speaking).
avergonzado — embarrassed, ashamed
Estoy avergonzado por lo que hice. — I'm ashamed of what I did (man speaking).
extraño — strange, odd
Es extraño: Pedro no contesta. — It's strange: Pedro isn't answering.
cierto — true
Es cierto, tienes razón. — It's true, you're right.
de verdad — really, for real
¿De verdad? No me lo creo. — Really? I can't believe it.
¡qué vergüenza! — how embarrassing
¡Qué vergüenza! Todos me miran. — How embarrassing! Everyone's looking at me.
sin querer — by accident, accidentally
Perdona, lo hice sin querer. — Sorry, I did it by accident.
en realidad — actually, in fact
En realidad, no tengo hambre. — Actually, I'm not hungry.
resulta que — it turns out (that)
Resulta que mi vecino es profesor de español. — It turns out my neighbor is a Spanish teacher.
la mentira — lie
Eso es mentira, yo no hice nada. — That's a lie, I didn't do anything.
la razón — being right, reason
Tienes razón. — You're right.
el caso — case
En ese caso, llamo yo. — In that case, I'll call.
suceder — to happen
¿Qué sucede aquí? — What's going on here?
ocurrir — to happen, to occur
¿Qué ocurre? — What's going on?
confundir — to mix up, to confuse
Siempre confundo a los dos hermanos. — I always mix up the two brothers.
la confusión — confusion, mix-up
Hay una confusión: no es mi maleta. — There's a mix-up: it's not my suitcase.
el malentendido — misunderstanding
Fue un malentendido. — It was a misunderstanding.
suponer — to suppose, to guess
Supongo que sí. — I guess so.
lamentar — to regret, to be sorry
Lo lamento mucho. — I'm very sorry about it.
pronunciar — to pronounce
No sé pronunciar esta palabra. — I don't know how to pronounce this word.
la frase — sentence, phrase
Escribe una frase con esta palabra. — Write a sentence with this word.
gritar — to shout, to scream
Mi vecino grita mucho por la noche. — My neighbor shouts a lot at night.
aclarar — to clear up, to clarify
Quiero aclarar una cosa. — I want to clear something up.
darse prisa — to hurry
Me doy prisa, llego en cinco minutos. — I'm hurrying, I'll be there in five minutes.
meter la pata — to put your foot in it, to mess up
¡Qué mal! He metido la pata. — Oh no! I've put my foot in it.
reírse de — to laugh at
Mis amigos se ríen de mí. — My friends laugh at me.
la tontería — nonsense, silly thing
No digo tonterías. — I'm not talking nonsense.
ridículo — ridiculous
Es ridículo pagar tanto por un café. — It's ridiculous to pay so much for a coffee.
el mostrador — counter
El camarero está detrás del mostrador. — The waiter is behind the counter.
constipado — having a cold
Estoy constipado desde ayer. — I've had a cold since yesterday (man speaking).
embarazada — pregnant
Mi hermana está embarazada. — My sister is pregnant.
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