-AR Preterite verbs

Here are the preterite endings for -AR verbs. We can attach these endings to the "stem" of the verb.

Hablar = to speak

Cantar = to sing

Dibujar = to draw

Cenar = to have dinner

Comprar = to buy

Let's think about the verb 'hablar'. The "stem" is just 'habl-' (we get the stem by taking off the last two letter of the verb (AR).

Then, we can attach these endings to the stem to conjugate our verb in the past tense. So "I spoke" would be "hablé"

We can use these same endings on other verbs, of course. For example, 'cenar' means 'to eat dinner.'

So, "I ate dinner last night at 8:30" would be "Anoche, cené a las ocho y media"

How would you say "Mr. Looney ate dinner last night at 8:30"? (Hint: all you have to do is change the conjugation)

Hopefully that made sense. If it doesn't look over to the right -->

the ending é is only when I am talking about myself (yo = I).

If I want to talk about someone else, I have to use the ending ó

Let's talk about pronunciation...

Correct! It doesn't just look cool! Accent marks can help us a ton with pronunciation, and often times are really important!

For example, how would you say "she spoke Spanish"?

"she spoke Spanish" = "Ella habló Español"

Notice how I'm pronouncing "Habló Español. If I forget to stress the last letter, it becomes "Hablo Español"