These are my directions: Change the present tense verb in the sentence to the preterite tense. Can you help me understand how to do this?

These are the Questions(1-5):

1. Voy a estudiar.

2. Vas a dar comida al perro

3. Es un estudiante.

4. Somos aquí.

5. Son cómicos.

I'm supposed to be using ir and ser but I don't know when, where or why. Can you help me to understand this better? Please and thank you! Remember the Golden Rule :) Thanks again!

3 answers

I'll send your post to our Spanish expert, SraJMcGin.
First of all you need to learn how to form the Preterit for both regular and irregular verbs.
-ar (hablar)
yo hablé, tú hablaste, él/ella/ usted habló,
nosotros, -as hablamos, vosotros, -as
hablásteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes hablaron

-er (comer)
yo comí, tú comiste, él/ella/usted comió,
nosotros, -as comimos, vosotros, -as comísteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes comieron

-ir (vivir)
yo viví, tú viviste, él/ella/usted vivió,
nosotros, -as vivimos, vosotros, -as vivísteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes vivieron

NOTE; the accents, color-code the endings so they stand out; that makes them easier to memorize.

Some irregulars that I see you have.
ir/ser (note that they will be identical, so usually it's the "a" that goes with "ir" that will identify that one.)
yo fui, tú fuiste, él/ella/usted fue, nosotros, -as fuimos, vosotros, -as fuisteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes fueron

Note: these are unstressed, or, in other words, have no accent marks.

Now, look at the subject (which is not stated above) = yo, tú, él, ella, usted, nosotros, -as, vosotros, -as, ellos, ellas, ustedes) in the Present Tense and shift that to the Preterit. Be SURE it is the same subject!

Now, you try them and I'll be back to check.

Sra (aka Mme)
OK. I've waited all I can. I will not be back unless MsSue sends me another note.

Sra (aka Mme)
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