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Year 11 - Spanish

Entre amigos: preterite and imperfect, role-play (AQA)

Communication and the world around us: Repaso - la vida diaria y en línea

Unit Summary

This first revision unit covers all persons of the present and preterite. Pupils strengthen direct objects and modal verbs. They contrast the preterite and imperfect, use imperfect forms of 'estar' with a present participle to discuss actions in progress, and use the preterite for interruptions.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to understand and translate verbs in the preterite and imperfect tenses, and respond confidently to role-play scenarios relating to family and celebrations.

Key Notes

  • To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite tense, use the endings -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron.
  • To conjugate regular -er/-ir verbs in the preterite tense, use the endings -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron.
  • To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the imperfect tense, use the endings -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -ábais, -aban.
  • To conjugate regular -er/-ir verbs in the imperfect tense, use the endings -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían.
  • The only irregular verbs in the imperfect tense are 'ir' ('iba'), 'ser' ('era') and 'ver' ('veía').

Vocabulary To Learn

  • preterite: tense used to express completed events in the past
  • imperfect: tense used to describe how things were or used to be in the past

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • The only translation of 'I visited' in Spanish is 'visité'.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.

To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite tense, use the endings -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron. To conjugate regular -er/-ir verbs in the preterite tense, use the endings -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'preterite'

tense used to express completed events in the past. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: The only translation of 'I visited' in Spanish is 'visité'. Correction: In Spanish, 'visité' means 'I visited' for a single, completed action in the past. You could also, however, use 'visitaba' to mean 'I visited' for an action that happened repeatedly over a period of time.

More Lessons In This Unit

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