Grammatically Speaking Spanish Study Sheet
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4Spanish 3 Patterns Semester 2 Unit 1 Lesson 8
Independent Study: Grammatically Speaking
Study Sheet
Figure It Out!
Lo supe ayer.
No lo sabía.
¿Conociste a María?
¿Conocías a María?
Ella pudo hacerlo.
Ella podía hacerlo.
Quisimos correr un maratón.
Queríamos correr un maratón.
¿Por qué no quisisteis regresar?
¿Por qué no queríais regresar?
Tuvo suerte.
Tenían suerte.
In the two sets of sentences above, how are the sentences in the left column different
than the sentences in the right column? How does the verb tense affect the message
that is communicated?
Introduction
The preterit and the imperfect focus on different aspects of something that happened
in the past. The preterit concentrates on the beginning, the end, or the entirety of a
completed past action, state, or condition. The imperfect centers on the "not finished"
nature of that action, state, or condition in the past. That is, it is something that
continued in the past.
There are some modal auxiliary verbs that do not show action, but rather a state. In
Spanish, they are conjugated in the two different past tenses in order to show the desired
aspect. However, in English, sometimes a completely different verb is needed to specify
the aspect of these verbs of state. In other words, they "change meaning." Since
these verbs are modal auxiliary verbs, they are used very often.
Preterit vs. Imperfect: Modal Auxiliary Verbs of State
Some verbs actually "change meaning," depending on whether they are conjugated in
the preterit or in the imperfect. This is not surprising. But how does it happen?
Remember that a story could change depending on which past tense was used? Here are
some examples of that. Some verbs "change their meaning" depending on whether they
are conjugated in the preterit or in the imperfect because they focus on different aspects.
This only happens with verbs that show a state of being. It doesn’t happen with action
verbs.
Look at how these verbs are used in both the preterit and the imperfect. Pay attention
to the different verbs that are needed to translate these modal auxiliary verbs from
the Spanish preterit and imperfect past tenses.
("to know [about]" or "to be aware of")
SABER
•
María supo la verdad ayer. (María found out / learned the truth
yesterday.)
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The preterit narrates completed actions. Here it marks the beginning of
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