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Year 9 - Spanish

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

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 -er and -ir verbs in the preterite to talk and ask about past holidays.

Key Notes

  • The preterite tense is used to express completed actions in the past.
  • To conjugate singular forms of the preterite tense for regular -er/-ir verbs, remove -er/-ir and add -í, -iste, -ió.
  • Common interrogatives in Spanish are: '¿dónde?', '¿cuándo?', '¿cuánto?', '¿quién?', '¿qué?', '¿por qué?', '¿cómo?'.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • preterite: verb tense used for completed actions in the past, e.g. 'I listened', 'I bought'
  • interrogative: word used to ask a question

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • To say what I did in the past, remove the infinitive ending and add -é.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

The preterite tense is used to express completed actions in the past. To conjugate singular forms of the preterite tense for regular -er/-ir verbs, remove -er/-ir and add -í, -iste, -ió.

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

verb tense used for completed actions in the past, e.g. 'I listened', 'I bought'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: To say what I did in the past, remove the infinitive ending and add -é. Correction: To say what I did in the past for a regular -ar verb, remove the infinitive ending and add -é. To say what I did in the past for a regular -er or -ir verb, remove the infinitive ending and add -í.

More Lessons In This Unit

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