The Preterite is quite a tricky tense when you consider the many irregulars verbs that need to be learnt. In my Introduction to the Preterite Tense with Irregular verbs, you’ll find them in groups to make it easier to learn them bit by bit.
Here we’ll learn how the verbs VER and DAR work, and they’re not that difficult to be honest, because one pretty much copies the other!
Ver (To see) and Dar (to give):
These two are not exactly the same but a Simple Spanish Tip to remember for these two verbs is:
Ver does what it should if it were regular and is only considered irregular because it has no accents. Then… Dar copies VER!
| ver (to see) | dar (to give) |
|---|---|
| vi (I saw) | di (I gave) |
| viste (you saw) | diste (you gave) |
| vio (he/she/it saw) & you (polite) saw | dio (he/she/it gave) & you (polite) gave |
| vimos (we saw) | dimos (we gave) |
| visteis (you all saw) | disteis (you all gave) |
| vieron (they saw) & you all (polite) saw | dieron (they gave) & you all (polite) gave |
For example:
- El otro día, yo vi una serie fantástica en la tele. – (The other day, I saw a fantastic series on TV.)
- No vimos a nadie. – (We didn’t see anybody.)
- Los niños dieron las gracias por lor regalos. – (The children gave thanks for the presents)
- No me diste tu número de teléfono ayer.- (You didn’t give me your telephone number yesterday)
Easy as…
So, for VER, just remember to apply the endings for a Regular -ER ending verb in the Preterite Tense but don’t add the accents. Then, for DAR, copy VER. Now have a go…
If you are now feeling confident in conjugating VER and DAR, head back to my Introduction to the Preterite Tense with Irregular verbs. You’ll find all the other groups of Irregular verbs in the Preterite Tense with links to explanations and practice.
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