🌿Review & Assessment

During Stage 1 you learnt (or revised) the irregular preterite stems. They all share one set of endings, with no accents: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron.

Two things to remember:
- ser and ir share the same preterite: fui, fuiste, fue...
- Stems ending in -j- (decir, traer, conducir) use -eron in the ellos form: dijeron, trajeron, condujeron.

The imperfect is for the background of the past: descriptions, things in progress, habits, the time and age, feelings and states. Only three verbs are irregular: ser, ir and ver. Every other verb follows -aba (for -ar verbs) or -ía (for -er and -ir verbs).

Use it for:
- descriptions: Era alto y tenía los ojos azules.
- things in progress: Caminaba por la calle.
- habits: Siempre iba al parque.
- the scene: Llovía, hacía frío y había mucha gente.
- time and age: Eran las tres. Tenía diez años.
- feelings and states: Estaba contento.

This is the biggest choice of Stage 1. Ask yourself what job the verb is doing.

Preterite - the events:
- a completed action: Compré un libro.
- at a specific time: Ayer llegué a las tres.
- it interrupts something: De repente, sonó el teléfono.
- you can count it: Llamé tres veces.
- it moves the story on: Entró, se sentó y pidió un café.

Imperfect - the background:
- setting the scene: Era de noche y llovía mucho.
- in progress: Caminaba por la calle.
- a habit: Siempre desayunaba a las ocho.
- a feeling or state: Estaba nervioso.

Object pronouns replace nouns so you don't repeat them. There are two kinds:

Direct object pronouns answer "what?" or "who?":
- lo (him / it), la (her / it), los and las (them)
- Compré el libro → Lo compré.

Indirect object pronouns answer "to whom?" or "for whom?":
- me, te, le, nos, os, les
- Le di el regalo a María.

Where they go: before the conjugated verb (lo compré), or on the end of an infinitive (voy a comprarlo).

You learnt three kinds of comparison:

1. More or less: más / menos + adjective + que
- Madrid es más grande que Sevilla.

2. As... as: tan + adjective + como, tanto / tanta / tantos / tantas + noun + como
- Este hotel es tan cómodo como el otro.

3. The most / the least: el / la / los / las + más or menos + adjective
- Es el barrio más bonito de la ciudad.

Irregular forms: mejor (better), peor (worse), mayor (older), menor (younger).

Before Stage 2, rate yourself from 1 (not yet) to 5 (easy) on each statement. Anything below 4 is worth a second look: the week number tells you where to go back.

- I can talk about life events with irregular preterites (hice, pude, dije...). Weeks 1-2
- I can describe my childhood and how things used to be with the imperfect. Weeks 3-4
- I can choose between the preterite and the imperfect in a story. Weeks 5 and 11
- I can describe symptoms and talk to a doctor. Week 6
- I can use lo, la, los, las and le, les instead of repeating nouns. Weeks 7-8
- I can compare people, places and things. Week 9
- I can describe how a place has changed. Week 10

The exercises in this lesson cover every one of these topics, so use your scores as a checklist while you work through them.