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Year 9 - Spanish

Past holidays: singular -ar verbs in the preterite, intonation questions

My holidays: -ar, -er, -ir verbs

Unit Summary

This unit revisits singular forms of the preterite of regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs, subject pronouns 'yo', 'tú', 'él', 'ella', question words and forming negative statements. In phonics, pupils identify the number of syllables in cognates and revisit final syllable stress.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use the preterite tense to describe and ask about past holidays.

Key Notes

In Spanish, syllables often contain consonant-vowel pairs, or a vowel with a consonant either side.
The preterite tense is used to express completed actions in the past.
To conjugate singular forms of the preterite tense for regular -ar verbs, remove the -ar and add -é, -aste, -ó.
Raise your voice at the end of a statement to form an intonation question.

Vocabulary To Learn

syllable: single unit of pronunciation, part of a word you can say in one beat
preterite: verb tense used for completed actions in the past, e.g. 'I listened', 'I bought'
intonation question: question that is formed by raising the tone of voice at the end of a statement

Common Mistakes To Avoid

When asking questions like 'Did you travel by plane?' in Spanish, I need to start by translating the word 'did'.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

In Spanish, syllables often contain consonant-vowel pairs, or a vowel with a consonant either side. The preterite tense is used to express completed actions in the past.

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

single unit of pronunciation, part of a word you can say in one beat. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: When asking questions like 'Did you travel by plane?' in Spanish, I need to start by translating the word 'did'. Correction: To ask a 'did'-style question in Spanish, you can form an intonation question by simply raising your voice at the end of a past-tense sentence. It is not necessary to translate the word 'did'.

More Lessons In This Unit

Past holidays: singular -er and -ir verbs in the preterite, interrogatives Study Guide

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