Lesson 59

The Other Dot-Past Endings

Language Transfer Complete Spanish is by Mihalis Eleftheriou. Listen to the original audio first; use these notes for revision.

-ER/-IR verb preterite

Person	Ending	comer
I	-í	comí
He/she/formal	-ió	comió
They	-ieron	comieron
You (informal)	-iste	comiste
We	-imos	comimos

Que also means "than": Comí más que él = I ate more than him. Spanish says "more than he" — comí más que él, comió más que yo.

Ver preterite: vi (I saw), vio (he saw). Nada = nothing. Nadie = nobody. Double negative required: No vi nada = I didn't see anything ("I didn't see nothing").

Durar = to last ("duration"). Durante = during. Media hora = half an hour. Parar = to stop. Sin parar = without stopping.

Sentences practiced

Spanish	English
Comí.	I ate.
Comió.	He ate.
Salí.	I left.
Salió.	She left.
No salió todavía.	She hasn't left yet.
No sé por qué no salió todavía.	I don't know why she hasn't left yet.
Comí más que él.	I ate more than him.
Comió más que yo.	He ate more than me.
Vi.	I saw.
Lo vi.	I saw him.
No lo vi.	I didn't see him.
Pero no me vio.	But he didn't see me.
No vi nada.	I didn't see anything.
No comí nada.	I didn't eat anything.
¿No comió nada?	Didn't he eat anything?
¿Por qué no comió nada?	Why didn't he eat anything?
Nadie vio nada.	Nobody saw anything.
Duró dos minutos.	It lasted two minutes.
Duré dos minutos.	I lasted two minutes.
Durante dos minutos.	During/for two minutes.
Comió durante media hora.	He ate for half an hour.
Habló durante media hora.	He spoke for half an hour.
Habló durante media hora sin parar.	He spoke for half an hour without stopping.