Spelling changes in the preterite
Some verbs change their spelling in the past just to keep the same sound. The rules are small and predictable.
Theory
Three yo-only changes, then two changes in the él and ellos forms.
Only the yo form changes
| Ending | Verb | yo | él (normal) |
|---|---|---|---|
| -car → -qué | buscar | busqué | buscó |
| sacar | saqué | sacó | |
| -gar → -gué | llegar | llegué | llegó |
| pagar | pagué | pagó | |
| -zar → -cé | empezar | empecé | empezó |
| almorzar | almorcé | almorzó |
él and ellos change
| Change | Verb | él | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|
| i → y | leer | leyó | leyeron |
| oír | oyó | oyeron | |
| e → i | pedir | pidió | pidieron |
| o → u | dormir | durmió | durmieron |
Why it happens
To keep the hard k sound: c before e would sound like “th”.
buscar → busqué = to look for → I looked for
Only yo
busqué
but buscaste, buscó…
i between vowels → y
le-ió → leyó = he / she read
cre-ió → creyó = he / she believed
-ir stem changers
pedir → pidió, pidieron = to ask for → he / she asked for, they asked for
dormir → durmió, durmieron = to sleep → he / she slept, they slept
-ar and -er stem changers: none
pensar → pensó = to think → he / she thought
volver → volvió = to come back → he / she came back
No change in the past.
Accents with y-verbs
leí, leíste, leímos = I read, you read, we read
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