Spanish Irregular Preterite Verbs: SER, IR, DAR & VER
- The story episode in Spanish.
- The translation into English.
- A grammar explanation with examples from the story.
El sábado por la tarde, los cuatro amigos fueron al parque. Hacía sol, pero el aire era fresco y el césped todavía estaba húmedo por la lluvia de la noche anterior. Constance llevó un libro, Maya un pequeño cuaderno de dibujo y Daniel apareció con una bolsa de patatas fritas que, según él, era suficiente para alimentar a todo el grupo. Imran llegó unos minutos después con la guitarra colgada del hombro.
On Saturday afternoon, the four friends went to the park. It was sunny, but the air was cool and the grass was still wet from the rain the night before. Constance brought a book, Maya a small sketchbook, and Daniel turned up with a bag of crisps that, according to him, was enough to feed the whole group. Imran arrived a few minutes later with his guitar slung over his shoulder.
—¿Vas a tocar para nosotros? —preguntó Maya.
“Are you going to play for us?” Maya asked.
—Sí. Hoy quiero enseñaros algo.
“Yes. I want to show you something today.”
Se sentaron debajo de un árbol. Imran sacó la guitarra y durante unos segundos pasó los dedos por las cuerdas sin tocar ninguna melodía.
They sat down under a tree. Imran took out his guitar and for a few seconds ran his fingers over the strings without playing a melody.
—La música es solamente aire en movimiento, una simple vibración. Eso es todo. Pero ese aire puede hacerte llorar. Puede llevarte a un lugar donde estuviste hace diez años. Puede decir algo que nunca pudiste explicar con palabras. Por eso quiero ser músico. No quiero hacer ninguna otra cosa.
“Music is just air in motion, a simple vibration. That’s all. But that air can make you cry. It can take you back to a place where you were ten years ago. It can say something you could never explain in words. That’s why I want to be a musician. I don’t want to do anything else.”
Daniel lo miró sorprendido.
Daniel looked at him in surprise.
—Nunca te oí decirlo con tanta seguridad.
“I’ve never heard you say it with such certainty.”
—Porque nunca lo dije con tanta seguridad. Mi familia quiere que estudie Medicina o Ingeniería. Algo serio. Algo que dé dinero. Pero yo no quiero despertarme dentro de veinte años y descubrir que viví la vida que otra persona eligió para mí. Una vez leí una frase que decía: «Un adulto creativo es un niño que ha sobrevivido». No quiero que maten al niño que fui. Quiero mantenerlo vivo dentro de mí. Y por eso quiero ser músico.
“Because I’ve never said it with such certainty before. My family wants me to study Medicine or Engineering. Something serious. Something that pays well. But I don’t want to wake up twenty years from now and discover that I’ve lived the life someone else chose for me. I once read a quote that said, ‘A creative adult is a child who survived.’ I don’t want them to kill the child I was. I want to keep him alive inside me. And that’s why I want to be a musician.”
—¿Y qué vas a tocar? —preguntó Maya.
“And what are you going to play?” Maya asked.
—Una canción argentina. La escuché por primera vez hace poco y me pareció preciosa. Nunca canté en español delante de nadie, así que tenéis prohibido reíros.
“An Argentinian song. I heard it for the first time recently and thought it was beautiful. I’ve never sung in Spanish in front of anyone before, so you’re not allowed to laugh.”
—No prometo nada —dijo Daniel.
“I’m not promising anything,” Daniel said.
Imran le dio un pequeño golpe con el pie.
Imran gave him a little kick.
—La canción habla de la naturaleza humana. Dice que somos luz y sombra, que tropezamos siempre con la misma piedra y que, entre todos los animales, somos los únicos capaces de odiar, que el ser humano quiere ser muchas cosas y nunca es más que cuando simplemente es él mismo.
“The song is about human nature. It says that we are light and shadow, that we always stumble over the same stone and that, of all the animals, we are the only ones capable of hatred; that human beings want to be many things, but are never more than when they are simply themselves.”
Constance lo miró.
Constance looked at him.
—Eso parece escrito para ti.
“That sounds as if it was written for you.”
—Quizás por eso me gusta tanto.
“Maybe that’s why I like it so much.”
Imran empezó a tocar. Al principio miró sus dedos, concentrado. Después levantó la cabeza y cantó. Su español no era perfecto, pero nadie se rio. Constance lo vio cerrar los ojos en algunos momentos. Maya dejó de dibujar. Daniel dejó incluso de comer. Cuando terminó, durante unos segundos solo se oyó el ruido de las hojas.
Imran began to play. At first, he watched his fingers, concentrating. Then he raised his head and sang. His Spanish wasn’t perfect, but nobody laughed. Constance saw him close his eyes at certain moments. Maya stopped drawing. Daniel even stopped eating. When he finished, for a few seconds the only sound was the rustling of the leaves.
—Bueno —dijo Daniel—. Ahora entiendo por qué no quieres ser médico.
“Well,” Daniel said. “Now I understand why you don’t want to be a doctor.”
Imran rio.
Imran laughed.
—Gracias.
“Thanks.”
—¿Dónde aprendiste a tocar así? —preguntó Maya.
“Where did you learn to play like that?” Maya asked.
—Mi abuelo me dio mis primeras lecciones cuando era pequeño. Después seguí solo. Hace unos días vi su vieja sitar otra vez. Sigue en casa, cubierta de polvo. Algún día voy a tocarla.
“My grandfather gave me my first lessons when I was little. After that, I carried on by myself. A few days ago, I saw his old sitar again. It’s still at home, covered in dust. One day I’m going to play it.”
Constance sonrió.
Constance smiled.
—¿Y esta canción? ¿Quién te la enseñó?
“And this song? Who taught it to you?”
—Nadie. Se la pedí a un chico argentino que conocí online. Me mandó los acordes y después busqué la letra.
“Nobody. I asked an Argentinian guy I met online for it. He sent me the chords, and then I looked up the lyrics.”
Entonces oyeron una voz detrás de ellos.
Then they heard a voice behind them.
—Perdón.
“Excuse me.”
Los cuatro se dieron vuelta.
All four of them turned around. A boy about their age was standing a few metres away. His eyes were wet. He looked directly at Imran.
Un chico de aproximadamente su edad estaba de pie a pocos metros. Tenía los ojos húmedos. Miró directamente a Imran.
“Hi. My name’s Leo. We don’t know each other, but… what you just sang made me cry.”
—Hola. Me llamo Leo. No nos conocemos, pero… me hiciste llorar con lo que acabas de cantar.
Imran froze. The boy smiled.
Imran se quedó inmóvil. El chico sonrió.
“Would you like to have a coffee with me?”
—¿Quieres que tomemos un café juntos?
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We start today covering irregular Verbs in the so called Preterite, which in Spanish is called Pretérito Perfecto Simple (remember that Preterite means Past Tense in Latin, and we have more than one, so if you only say the Preterite, we don’t know which tense you are talking about, that’s why the name must be the correct one). Also, remember that this is the most irregular tense in the Spanish language, so take your time to practise. To make your life easier, I will write one blog for each different group of irregulars, so this topic continues in the subsequent episodes.
Having said that, we will discuss today four verbs: SER (TO BE), IR (TO GO), DAR (TO GIVE), VER (TO SEE). They are all monosyllabic infinitives and have also similar patterns. Let’s start with DAR and VER, which only differ in the first letter:
DAR
| YO | DI |
| TÚ | DISTE |
| ÉL, ELLA, USTED | DIO |
| NOSOTROS, NOSOTRAS | DIMOS |
| VOSOTROS, VOSOTRAS | DISTEIS |
| ELLOS, ELLAS, USTEDES | DIERON |
VER
| YO | VI |
| TÚ | VISTE |
| ÉL, ELLA, USTED | VIO |
| NOSOTROS, NOSOTRAS | VIMOS |
| VOSOTROS, VOSOTRAS | VISTEIS |
| ELLOS, ELLAS, USTEDES | VIERON |
Imran le dio un pequeño golpe con el pie.
Constance lo vio cerrar los ojos en algunos momentos.
Now, take a look at the other two verbs:
SER
| YO | FUI |
| TÚ | FUISTE |
| ÉL, ELLA, USTED | FUE |
| NOSOTROS, NOSOTRAS | FUIMOS |
| VOSOTROS, VOSOTRAS | FUISTEIS |
| ELLOS, ELLAS, USTEDES | FUERON |
IR
| YO | FUI |
| TÚ | FUISTE |
| ÉL, ELLA, USTED | FUE |
| NOSOTROS, NOSOTRAS | FUIMOS |
| VOSOTROS, VOSOTRAS | FUISTEIS |
| ELLOS, ELLAS, USTEDES | FUERON |
Los cuatro amigos fueron al parque.
Something weird happens here: why two entirely different verbs have the same forms in this tense? What is happening is a case of suppletion: in the preterite, SER and IR historically converged on the same forms (fui, fuiste, fue…), derived from Latin forms that eventually became part of both paradigms.
Let’s see the last pair.
PEDIR is to ask for something, to request something and also to order something:
Te pido un favor. I ask you a favour.
Pídeme lo que quieras. Ask me what you want.
Voy a pedir una pizza. I am going to order a pizza.
Talking about the song, Imran said:
Se la pedí a un chico argentino que conocí online.
PREGUNTAR means to ask a question, which is precisely UNA PREGUNTA:
Quiero hacerte una pregunta. I want to ask you a question.
Quiero preguntarte algo. I want to ask you something.
—¿Dónde aprendiste a tocar así? —preguntó Maya.
Be careful with this distinction, it is a very common mistake. Never mix up these two verbs.
🟩 Here is Imran’s song: La pucha con el hombre, de los Carabajal (Argentina)
Find all the episodes here: Contents – GCSE Spanish
We post new episodes every week — keep up with Constance and Imran’s story!
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