Year 9 - Spanish
News events: -ar verbs preterite tense for interruptions
Important events: present and imperfect continuous
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils combine imperfect forms of 'estar' with a present participle to talk about events in progress, and use the preterite for interruptions. 'Donde' and 'cuando' are introduced as relative pronouns for subject relative clauses. Demonstratives 'estos' and 'estas' are revisited.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to describe past news events using the imperfect continuous with 'cuando' ('when') and the preterite tense for interruptions.
Key Notes
- The preposition 'de' joins two nouns to describe a type of something, e.g. 'un billete de avión' ('a plane ticket').
- We use 'estar' in the present tense + present participle to talk about ongoing events; this is the present continuous.
- 'Estar' in the imperfect + present participle describes what someone was doing; this is the imperfect continuous.
- Sometimes an action interrupts what someone was doing. We use 'cuando' followed by the preterite to express this.
Vocabulary To Learn
- de: preposition meaning 'from' and 'of'
- present continuous: verb tense used to describe events happening right now, e.g. 'I am doing'
- imperfect continuous: verb tense used to talk about ongoing actions in the past, what was happening
- preterite: verb tense used for events completed in the past
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- When telling a story about a past event, I have to keep the full account in the same past tense.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.
The preposition 'de' joins two nouns to describe a type of something, e.g. 'un billete de avión' ('a plane ticket'). We use 'estar' in the present tense + present participle to talk about ongoing events; this is the present continuous.
2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'de'
preposition meaning 'from' and 'of'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.
3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.
Mistake: When telling a story about a past event, I have to keep the full account in the same past tense. Correction: Different past tenses describe different elements of a story. The imperfect continuous describes what was happening ('Estaba corriendo ...') then the preterite tense describes an interruption to that activity ('... cuando llegó una vaca'.).
More Lessons In This Unit
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