The first person singular has an irregular form in this tense. It needs to be memorized.
This irregularity influences the conjugation in the following, derived tenses as well:
Imperativo (Afirmativo & Negativo)
Presente Subjuntivo
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Spelling Correction (change i to y)
Because it would be hard to pronounce the letter i between two other vowels, it is pronounced as y. So we need to adjust the spelling appropriately and change i to y.
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Spelling Correction (add the accent over i)
We need to add an accent over the i here, because without it we would lose the stress on i while it is present in pronunciation.
It would happen because any combination of weak vowels i/u with strong vowels a/e/o in a single syllable gives a sound which begins as one vowel and moves towards another, a diphthong. English has it as well in words like: stain, out.
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Irregular Stem (memorize the irregular stem)
This verb uses an irregular stem in Pretérito Perfecto Simple, which needs to be memorized. It influences the conjugation of the following tenses of the Subjuntivo mood:
Pretérito Imperfecto A
Pretérito Imperfecto B
Futuro
That’s because they are based on the third person plural form of this tense.
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Irregular Ending (use irregular ending)
This verb belongs to the group which in the Pretérito Perfecto Simple tense conjugates based on an irregular stem, common to each grammatical person.
This group also uses specific endings for each person, but luckily these endings often happen to match the regular ones. In case of this person the ending doesn’t match the regular one.
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Irregular Ending (drop the i)
Verbs which change the last letter c of the stem to j in Pretérito Perfecto Simple (like all the verbs ending in -ducir ) also drop the i from the ending of the third person singular.
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Irregular Stem (use irregular stem)
Irregularity in the first person singular (yo) influences Imperativo Afirmativo & Negativo and Presente Subjuntivo which are created based on that person. The exceptions exist in Imperativo Afirmativo for:
tú – which doesn’t follow other persons and is either regular there or has a completely irregular form
vosotros/vosotras – which is always regular in that tense
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Always Opposite Letter (use the opposite letter)
The second person singular always uses an “opposite” letter than the other persons in this tense. The opposite means that when other persons use a this person uses e and when others use e it uses a.
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Difference in Spelling (add the accent)
Only the second person plural has an accent in the ending in this tense.
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Spelling Correction (add the accent)
The first person plural gets an accent. Without it the stress would move to the next vowel which wouldn’t match the pronunciation. That is because we stress the next to last syllable and only this person has two syllables in the ending, so only in this case the stress would move to the first syllable of the ending.
Thank you very much for making the effort to contact us! We strive to provide the highest quality content and we greatly appreciate even the smallest suggestions:
Yes, we are planning to add pronunciation, ideally for each form separately, not just for the infinitive forms. We weren’t sure how useful it would be for people, so thanks for this suggestion and feedback!
Dear Prof. Tom Tomatin and Team,
I would find it the most useful thing if each form had a pronunciation! While I’m trying to learn Spanish in general, each week I am reading some Spanish in church. Sometimes I get it right and others not.
I love your website!!
Can you make verb lists to practice specific verbs. My son is 10 and does powerspeak spanish. I would love to be able to add in the specific verbs that he is studying and have him do exercises with them every day. Thanks
Hi Lauren – yes, we have the Verb Basket for exactly this purpose. Because the website is being redesigned now, the Basket is temporarily not visible, but it should be back tomorrow.
An amazing website! I have used it all year to help me with my Spanish class and I see it even has the gerund form or words! You are amazing. Thank you!
"There are approximately 407 million people speaking Spanish as a native language,
making it the second-most-spoken language by number of native speakers. It also
has 60 million speakers as a second language, and 20 million students as a
foreign language." source: Wikipedia
Great, informative website … wonderful tool. Thanks!!!!
You’re very welcome! Thanks a lot for feedback. Please let us know if there’s anything we could add or improve to make it even nicer to use for you.
Could you add pronunciation ?
other then that this web site is a blessing! Thanks!
Yes, we are planning to add pronunciation, ideally for each form separately, not just for the infinitive forms. We weren’t sure how useful it would be for people, so thanks for this suggestion and feedback!
Dear Prof. Tom Tomatin and Team,
I would find it the most useful thing if each form had a pronunciation! While I’m trying to learn Spanish in general, each week I am reading some Spanish in church. Sometimes I get it right and others not.
I love your website!!
This is a great website. There are times when you run into glitches and this was one of them. Thanks for your help!
this is a gr8 website
Thank you! :D
Can you make verb lists to practice specific verbs. My son is 10 and does powerspeak spanish. I would love to be able to add in the specific verbs that he is studying and have him do exercises with them every day. Thanks
Hi Lauren – yes, we have the Verb Basket for exactly this purpose. Because the website is being redesigned now, the Basket is temporarily not visible, but it should be back tomorrow.
Verb Basket is available again. It’s located in the Practice/Exercise section at the bottom of configuration options.
What is the difference between pretirito pluscumperfecto A and B?
Hi Nick, good question. A and B are only variations of the same tense. Both are equal in meaning. Usage depends on location and context. For instance:
These tenses are sometimes presented together on one chart, like:
We chose to separate them for several reasons:
Tenses may be enabled and disabled in options: Select tenses to include in exercises and conjugation.
Nice website!!!
Thank you! (-:
thanks for the help! more power to you! :)
Great site! Thank you guys, with you the conjugation is a piece of cake :)
I can’t seem to save my settings. Help?
Settings are saved in cookies, maybe you have the cookies disabled in your browser?
An amazing website! I have used it all year to help me with my Spanish class and I see it even has the gerund form or words! You are amazing. Thank you!
Thank you Moriah! We’re very happy you find it helpful!
Very helpful for beginners like me. Almost everything I need is here.