Preterite ER/IR verbs

Now let’s learn how to conjugate “er/ir” spine or preterite verbs. The endings are exactly the same for both “er” as well as “ir” verbs.

We’ll use the verb “comer” as an example”.

I ate would be	(Yo) comí		We ate would be	(Nosotros) comimos  As you can see, for Nosotros, the ending for “er” and “ir” verbs is the same – “imos”. However, it’s important to note that the “er” verb ending changes from present to past, for example, “we eat” would be “nosotros comemos” and “we ate” in the past would be “nosotros comimos”. On the other hand, the “ir” verb endings are the same in the present and the past. The only way to tell the difference is by the context. For example, “salimos ayer” would be “we left yesterday”. And “Siempre salimos temprano” would be “We always leave early”.
Juan or María, You ate would be	(Tú) comiste		(tú plural – used only in Spain) would be	(Vosotros) comisteis
He ate would be She ate would be You ate would be	(El) comió  (Ella) comió  (Ud.) comió		They ate would be They (women) ate would be All of you ate would be	(Ellos) comieron  (Ellas) comieron  (Uds.) comieron

Now take a look at the endings one more time.

í	imos
iste	isteis
ió	ieron

Even though the endings for “ir” verbs are the same as “er” verbs, we’ll still take a look at an “ir” verb to give you an example: We’ll use the verb “vivir”.

Yo viví	Nosotros vivimos
Tú viviste	Vosotros vivisteis
El, Ella, or Ud. vivió	Ellos, ellas, or Uds. vivieron

Now we’ll practice the “er” “ir” endings with a few different verbs. Are you ready?

I promised	(Yo) prometí
You sold – using “tú”	(Tú) vendiste
He ran	(Él) corrió
She decided	(Ella) decidió
You lived – using “usted”	(Ud.) vivió
We opened	(Nosotros) abrimos
They learned	(Ellos) aprendieron
All of you wrote	(Uds.) escribieron

Now that you’ve learned the “er/ir” verb endings, you need to know that there is a lone “ar” verb that didn’t like his friends in the “ar” group and has chosen to use the “er/ir” endings for past tense. It is the verb “dar” which means “to give”. Take a look at the spine, or preterite, endings for “dar”.

I gave is	dí		We gave is	dimos
You gave, with “tú” is	diste		All of you gave (using vosotros in Spain) is	disteis
He, she, or you gave (using Ud.) is	dio		They or all of you gave is	dieron

Before we start practicing, let’s learn a few new Spanish expressions. Are you ready?

For three days – Por tres días
For five years - Por cinco años 
For ten months - Por diez meses 
For fifteen minutes - Por quince minutos
For eight hours - Por ocho horas 
Three days ago - Hace tres días  
Four weeks ago – Hace cuatro meses 
Ten months ago - Hace diez meses 
Five years ago - Hace cinco años 
Fifteen minutes ago - Hace quince minutos 
Eight hours ago - Hace ocho horas.  

 Practice Session 

Now, let’s go ahead and practice the “er/ir” spine verb endings. Here we go.

I drank it (starts with ‘b’)	Lo bebí
(Marta) Did you eat it?	¿Lo comiste?
He learned it	Lo aprendió
She promised	Prometió
(Sra. Benites) You didn’t see it (el edificio)	No lo vio
We sold it 3 days ago	Lo vendimos hace tres días
They surprised us six days ago	Nos sorprendieron hace seis días
All of you attended for four months	Asistieron por cuatro meses
I didn’t understand (starts with ‘c’)	No comprendí
She gave it to Juan	Lo dio a Juan
(Martín) You decided three years ago	Decidiste hace tres años
He lived there for two years	Vivió por dos años
She opened it (la puerta) five minutes ago	La abrió hace cinco minutos
(Sr. Mendes) You received it three weeks ago	Lo recibió hace tres semanas
We wrote it (la carta) two days ago	La escribimos hace dos días
I gave it to María	Lo di a María
They lost it (la llave) two months ago	La perdieron hace dos meses
I didn’t understand it (starts with ‘e’)	No lo entendí
It rained for three weeks	Llovió por tres semanas
(Marta) You chose them two years ago	Los escogiste hace dos años
He left one month  ago	Salió hace un mes