🎯 Why This Matters
Foundation for all past narration.
Accurate past tense storytelling.
🇪🇸 The Challenge
Irregular forms and -ED pronunciation. Regular verbs take -ed, but 200+ common verbs are irregular. Plus, -ed has three different pronunciations.
🇲🇽🇨🇴🇦🇷 Double past marking
Problem: Wanting to show past on both DID and the verb
Watch out: Saying 'Did you went?' or 'I didn't saw'
✅ Fix: DID/DIDN'T carries the past. Main verb stays BASE form!
🧠 Mental Note: DID + base verb. DIDN'T + base verb. Never DID + past form!
🇪🇸 Same DID trap
Problem: Spanish marks past only on main verb
Watch out: Feeling like you need to show past twice in English questions
✅ Fix: Trust DID to carry the past tense marker
🧠 Visual Explanation (The Mental Fix)
The Finished Box
DID takes the past tense! Main verb stays in base form after DID.
🗣️ Pronunciation Guide
How Spanish speakers should pronounce this structure:
-ED has three sounds
Spanish Habit: Always pronouncing -ed as /ed/
English Reality: Three pronunciations: /t/, /d/, /ɪd/
Examples:
- walked → /wɔːkt/ (after voiceless: k,p,s,sh,ch)
- played → /pleɪd/ (after voiced: b,g,v,z,m,n,l,r + vowels)
- wanted → /ˈwɒntɪd/ (after t or d sounds)
Practice: Only add syllable /ɪd/ after /t/ or /d/. Otherwise it's just /t/ or /d/
📖 How It Works
Teacher Recommendation: Teacher recommended
Time Investment: 8 hours
🔑 Signal Words (Memory Anchors)
These words/phrases appear with this structure:
| English | Spanish | Example |
|---|---|---|
| yesterday | ayer | I saw him yesterday |
| last week/month/year | la semana/el mes/año pasado | She left last month |
| ago | hace | I moved here two years ago |
| in [year] | en [año] | I was born in 1990 |
| when I was... | cuando era/tenía... | When I was a child, I lived in Mexico |
💬 Real Examples
Let's see this structure in action with correct vs incorrect usage:
Example 1: Regular -ed verb
✅ CORRECT: "I worked yesterday."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Trabajé ayer."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "I work yesterday."
Why wrong? 'Yesterday' = past time. Need past tense: worked (not work)
Example 2: Question with DID
✅ CORRECT: "Did you see the movie?"
🇪🇸 Translation: "¿Viste la película?"
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "Did you saw the movie?"
Why wrong? DID carries the past tense. Main verb stays BASE form: see (not saw)
Example 3: Negative with DIDN'T
✅ CORRECT: "I didn't go to the party."
🇪🇸 Translation: "No fui a la fiesta."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "I didn't went to the party."
Why wrong? DIDN'T + base verb (go, not went)
✏️ Practice Exercises
Ready to test your understanding? Let's practice!
🚀 What to Study Next
More in "Verb Tenses"
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