DOCSLIB.ORG

Preterite Vs Imperfect: Part I

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Preterite Vs Imperfect: Part I 1 St. Aloysius School Spanish III Preterite vs Imperfect: Part I Spanish has two past tenses: preterite and imperfect. Most verbs can be put into either tense, depending upon the meaning. In this lesson, you will learn to conjugate regular –ar verbs in the preterite and the imperfect. You will also learn the basic difference between the preterite and the imperfect, so that you can begin using them correctly. To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following: -é -aste -ó -amos -aron -aron To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the imperfect, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following endings: -aba -abas -aba -ábamos -aban -aban Compare the verb “hablar” conjugated in the preterite and the imperfect. P R E T E R I T E I M P E R F E C T hablé hablaba hablaste hablabas habló hablaba hablamos hablábamos hablasteis hablabais hablaron hablaban 2 Generally speaking, the preterite is used for actions in the past that are seen as completed. Use of the preterite tense implies that the past action had a definite beginning and definite end. Juan habló de la una hasta las dos. Juan spoke from one until two o’clock. (Clearly stated beginning and end) It is important to realize that the beginning and the end may not always be clearly stated. Juan habló dos horas. Juan spoke for two hours. (Implied beginning and end) Juan habló con la estudiante. Fr. Clint sayz: For the sake of Juan spoke with the student. simplicity at this point, (Implied beginning and end) translate the preterite as the Generally speaking, the imperfect is used for simple past: eg. I ate, drank, actions in the past that are not seen as completed. Use of the imperfect tense looked, etc. Translate the implies that the past action did not have a imperfect with “used to” or definite beginning or a definite end. “was”/”were”: eg. I used to Las chicas hablaban en inglés. eat, I was drinking, we were The girls used to speak in English. looking, etc. (No definite beginning or end) And sometimes you just have to eat some chocolate! You have now learned the basic difference between the preterite and the imperfect: The preterite tells us specifically when an action took place. The imperfect tells us in general when an action took place. NOTE: Although this difference may appear simple, this is actually a complex topic, and you will learn the finer points in later lessons. Do Exercise A & B in the back of this packet. 3 ER and IR verbs in the Preterite Tense In the last lesson, you learned that the preterite is used for past actions that are seen as completed. You also learned how to conjugate regular -ar verbs. In this lesson, you will learn how to conjugate -er and -ir verbs, and become more familiar with the uses of the preterite. As we have seen, to conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following: -é -aste -ó -amos -aron -aron Now, to conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the preterite, simply drop the ending (-er or -ir) and add one of the following: -í -iste -ió -imos -ieron -ieron Here are all three regular preterite verb forms together: hablar comer vivir hablé comí viví hablaste comiste viviste habló comió vivió hablamos comimos vivimos hablaron comieron vivieron hablaron comieron vivieron Note: the nosotros forms for -ar and -ir verbs are the same in both preterite and present tenses: hablamos, vivimos. The preterite is used for actions that can be viewed as single events. Ella caminó por el parque. Ellos llegaron a las ocho. She walked through the park. They arrived at eight o'clock. 4 The preterite is used for actions that were repeated a specific number of times, or occurred during a specific period of time. Ayer escribí tres cartas. Vivimos allí por cuatro años. Yesterday I wrote three letters. We lived there for four years. The preterite is used for actions that were part of a chain of events. Ella se levantó, se vistió, y salió de la casa. She got up, dressed, and left the house. The preterite is used to state the beginning or the end of an action. Empezó a nevar a las ocho de la mañana. It began to snow at eight in the morning. The above examples all fall within our general rule for using the preterite: The preterite is used for past actions that are seen as completed. ER and IR Verbs in the Imperfect Tense As we saw above, you learned that the imperfect is used for past actions that are not seen as completed. Use of the imperfect tense implies that the past action did not have a definite beginning or a definite end. You also learned how to conjugate regular -ar verbs. In this lesson, you will learn how to conjugate -er and -ir verbs, and become more familiar with the uses of the imperfect. To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the imperfect, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following: -aba -abas -aba -ábamos -aban -aban Now, to conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the imperfect, simply drop the ending (-er or -ir) and add one of the following: -ía -ías -ía -íamos -ían -ían 5 Here are all three regular imperfect verb forms together: hablar comer vivir hablaba comía vivía hablabas comías vivías hablaba comía vivía hablábamos comíamos vivíamos hablaban comían vivían hablaban comían vivían The imperfect is used for actions that were repeated habitually. Almorzábamos juntos todos los días. Las señoras siempre charlaban por las We would lunch together every day. mañanas. The ladies would always chat in the mornings. The imperfect is used for actions that "set the stage" for another action. Yo leía cuando entró mi papá. I was reading when my papa entered. (Note that "entered" is preterite) The imperfect is used for telling time and stating one's age. Eran las siete de la noche. La niña tenía cinco años. It was seven o'clock at night. The little girl was five years old. The above examples all fall within our general rule for using the imperfect: The imperfect is used for past actions that are not seen as completed. Do Exercise C at the end of this packet. 6 Seeing them all lined up! Subject Translation AR Verb Tranlsation ER Verb Translation IR Verb Translation Pronoun Hablar Comer Vivir Present Tense Yo I Hablo I talk Como I eat Vivo I live Tu You Hablas You talk Comes You eat Vives You live El, ella S/he Habla s/he talks Come s/he eats Vive s/he lives Nosotros We Hablamos We talk Comemos We eat Vivimos We live Ustedes You-all Hablan You-all talk Comen You-all eat Viven You-all live Ustedes They Hablan They talk Comen They eat Viven They live Imperfect Tense Yo I hablaba I was talking comía I was eating vivía I was living Tu You hablabas You were comías You were vivías You were talking eating living El, ella S/he hablaba s/he was comía s/he was vivía s/he was talking eating living Nosotros We hablábamos We were comíamos We were vivíamos We were talking eating living Ustedes You-all hablaban You-all were comían You-all were vivían You-all were talking eating living Ustedes They hablaban They were comían They were vivín They were talking eating living Preterite Yo I hablé I spoke comí I ate viví I lived Tu You hablaste You spoke comiste You ate viviste You lived El, ella S/he habló s/he spoke comió S/he ate vivió S/he lived Nosotros We hablamos We spoke comimos We ate vivimos We lived Ustedes You-all hablaron You-all spoke comieron You-all ate vivieron You-all lived Ustedes They hablaron They Spoke comieron They ate vivieron They lived El dia de los muertos! 7 Ser, Ir, Dar & Hacer in the Preterite Tense… In this lesson you will learn to conjugate four important verbs in the preterite tense: ser, ir, dar and hacer. These four verbs are irregular; you must memorize them – there’s no easy way around it: Ser (to be) Ir (to go) Dar (to give) Hacer (to do or make) fui fui di hice fuiste fuiste diste hiciste fue fue dio hizo fuimos fuimos dimos hicimos fueron fueron dieron hicieron fueron fueron dieron hicieron Note: This is not a typo; ser and ir do have identical conjugations in the preterite! To review some of the rules for using the preterite: • The preterite is used for actions that can be viewed as single events. • The preterite is used for actions that were repeated a specific number of times. • The preterite is used for actions that occurred during a specific period of time. • The preterite is used for actions that were part of a chain of events. • The preterite is used to state the beginning or the end of an action. … and in the Imperfect Tense! Remember, the imperfect is used for past actions that are not seen as completed. Use of the imperfect tense implies that the past action did not have a definite beginning or a definite end. The imperfect tells when -- in general, an action occurred. Good news! There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect. You must simply memorize them. Ser (to be) Ir (to go) Ver (to look at or to see) era iba veía eras ibas veías era iba veía éramos íbamos veíamos erais ibais veíais eran iban veían To review some of the rules for using the imperfect: • The imperfect is used for actions that were repeated habitually.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Shared Lexicon of Baltic, Slavic and Germanic
    THE SHARED LEXICON OF BALTIC, SLAVIC AND GERMANIC VINCENT F. VAN DER HEIJDEN ******** Thesis for the Master Comparative Indo-European Linguistics under supervision of prof.dr. A.M. Lubotsky Universiteit Leiden, 2018 Table of contents 1. Introduction 2 2. Background topics 3 2.1. Non-lexical similarities between Baltic, Slavic and Germanic 3 2.2. The Prehistory of Balto-Slavic and Germanic 3 2.2.1. Northwestern Indo-European 3 2.2.2. The Origins of Baltic, Slavic and Germanic 4 2.3. Possible substrates in Balto-Slavic and Germanic 6 2.3.1. Hunter-gatherer languages 6 2.3.2. Neolithic languages 7 2.3.3. The Corded Ware culture 7 2.3.4. Temematic 7 2.3.5. Uralic 9 2.4. Recapitulation 9 3. The shared lexicon of Baltic, Slavic and Germanic 11 3.1. Forms that belong to the shared lexicon 11 3.1.1. Baltic-Slavic-Germanic forms 11 3.1.2. Baltic-Germanic forms 19 3.1.3. Slavic-Germanic forms 24 3.2. Forms that do not belong to the shared lexicon 27 3.2.1. Indo-European forms 27 3.2.2. Forms restricted to Europe 32 3.2.3. Possible Germanic borrowings into Baltic and Slavic 40 3.2.4. Uncertain forms and invalid comparisons 42 4. Analysis 48 4.1. Morphology of the forms 49 4.2. Semantics of the forms 49 4.2.1. Natural terms 49 4.2.2. Cultural terms 50 4.3. Origin of the forms 52 5. Conclusion 54 Abbreviations 56 Bibliography 57 1 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Academic Plan - Flamingo Spanish School 4 Weeks Program A1 to B2
    Academic Plan - Flamingo Spanish School 4 weeks program A1 to B2 Basic Spanish Level A1: Week 1 Objective Grammar Vocabulary Orthography Culture Introduce yourself ● ● Greetings Greetings ● ● Subjects Pronouns ● Farewells ● The alphabet Unit 1 Spelling names ● Countries in South America ● ● Verb “llamarse” ● Useful expressions ● The vowels The Class Ask and give personal ● Numbers information ● ● Subject Pronouns ● Introduce someone ● Verb “ser” simple present Unit 2 (identification, origen and ● Countries ● Ask and say the nationality nationality) Identify people Demonyms The accent Cognates ● Decir que idioma(s) habla ● Demonyms ● ● ● Languages ● Say what language you ● Verb “estar” (Place) ● speak ● Verb “hablar” ● Verb “ser” (occupation or profession) ● Ask and say the occupation or profession ● The questions ● Places where people work ● Ask and answer where a ● Indefinite article Unit 3 Parts of the day Intonation in questions The occupations better person work Number and gender of the ● ● ● ● paid in Latinoamerica Occupations ● Ask and answer where a noun ● Numbers person lives ● Regular verbs * occupation or profession ● Ask and answer the time ● Present of indicative ● Interrogative pronouns ● Identify kinship ● Article determined: gender Unit 4 relationships and number Identify the gender of Verb ser. Present of ● ● Relationships Sound /r/ Do not be confused The family objects indicative (possession, ● ● ● destination, purpose) ● Express destiny, purpose and possession ● Prepositions (de, para) Week 1 Objective Grammar Vocabulary Orthography Culture ● Adjectives: gender and number Unit 5 ● Make physical and ● Adverbs of quantity (muy, personality descriptions bastante, un poco, nothing) Description of ● Adjectives ● The letter “hache” ● The Latin American family ● Express possession ● Verb “tener”. Present of people indicative ● Possessive adjectives ● Determined article ● The impersonal form “hay” ● Hay / está ● Express existence ● Interrogative pronouns (cuánto / s, cuánta / s) ● Foods Unit 6 Interact in a restaurant ● Intonation ● ● Verb “estar”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Regularization of Old English Weak Verbs
    Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas Vol. 10 año 2015, 78-89 EISSN 1886-6298 http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/rlyla.2015.3583 THE REGULARIZATION OF OLD ENGLISH WEAK VERBS Marta Tío Sáenz University of La Rioja Abstract: This article deals with the regularization of non-standard spellings of the verbal forms extracted from a corpus. It addresses the question of what the limits of regularization are when lemmatizing Old English weak verbs. The purpose of such regularization, also known as normalization, is to carry out lexicological analysis or lexicographical work. The analysis concentrates on weak verbs from the second class and draws on the lexical database of Old English Nerthus, which has incorporated the texts of the Dictionary of Old English Corpus. As regards the question of the limits of normalization, the solutions adopted are, in the first place, that when it is necessary to regularize, normalization is restricted to correspondences based on dialectal and diachronic variation and, secondly, that normalization has to be unidirectional. Keywords: Old English, regularization, normalization, lemmatization, weak verbs, lexical database Nerthus. 1. AIMS OF RESEARCH The aim of this research is to propose criteria that limit the process of normalization necessary to regularize the lemmata of Old English weak verbs from the second class. In general, lemmatization based on the textual forms provided by a corpus is a necessary step in lexicological analysis or lexicographical work. In the specific area of Old English studies, there are several reasons why it is important to compile a list of verbal lemmata. To begin with, the standard dictionaries of Old English, including An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary and The student’s Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon are complete although they are not based on an extensive corpus of the language but on the partial list of sources given in the prefaces or introductions to these dictionaries.
    [Show full text]
  • Preterite Vs Imperfect: a Beginner’S Guide to the Past Tense in Spanish
    Preterite vs Imperfect: A Beginner’s Guide to the Past Tense in Spanish Ready for a blast from the past? As you may know, Spanish has two past tenses: preterite and imperfect. It’s often tricky to know which to use when, since they both refer to actions in the past. Fortunately, several general guidelines exist to help you realize when to use preterite vs imperfect. It’s also helpful to know which Spanish phrases trigger the use of either the preterite or the imperfect, so we’ll take a look at those later. Preterite vs Imperfect Conjugation Rules The preterite tells you precisely when something happened in the past, while the imperfect tells you in general terms when an action took place with no definite ending. Here’s a quick look at how to conjugate regular verbs in the preterite and imperfect forms. Be sure to check out our post on All You Ever Needed to Know About Spanish Simple ​ Past Tense Verbs for a thorough rundown of both regular and irregular preterite verb ​ conjugations. Preterite: Regular -ar Verbs -é -aste -ó -amos -aron For example: hablar (to talk) becomes yo hablé, tú hablaste, él/ella/Ud. habló, nosotros ​ ​ ​ hablamos, and ellos/Uds. hablaron ​ ​ Preterite: Regular -er and -ir Verbs -í -iste -ió -imos -ieron Examples Correr (to run): corrí, corriste, corrió, corrimos, corrieron ​ Abrir (to open): abrí, abriste, abrió, abrimos, abrieron ​ Imperfect: Regular -ar Verbs -aba -abas -aba -ábamos -abais -aban So, hablar in this form becomes hablaba, hablabas, hablaba, hablábamos, hablaban. ​ ​ ​ Imperfect: Regular -er and -ir Verbs -ía -ías -ía -íamos -ían Examples Correr (to run): corría, corrías, corría, corríamos, corrían ​ Abrir (to open): abría, abrías, abría, abríamos, abrían ​ El Preterito Phrases that Trigger the Preterite A handful of words and phrases indicate specific time frames that signal the use of the preterite (vs imperfect).
    [Show full text]
  • Frequency Effects and Structural Change – the Afrikaans Preterite
    Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, Vol. 45, 2016, 147-168 doi: 10.5842/45-0-207 Frequency effects and structural change – the Afrikaans preterite Johanita Kirsten School of Languages, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, South Africa E-mail: [email protected] Abstract According to emergent grammar and exemplar theory in cognitive linguistics, the frequency of an item affects its behaviour in terms of structural change. In this article, I illustrate how high frequency items, such as preterital modal auxiliaries and copulas in Afrikaans, resist regularising with the rest of the Afrikaans verbal system. Items with a moderately high frequency can resist change for a time, but succumb to it eventually, such as mog (“might”) and wis (“knew”). While the course of change can also be affected by other factors, such as het (“have”) and had (“had”), and dink (“think”) and gedink/dag/dog (“thought”) show, the data in diachronic Afrikaans corpora from 1911 to 2010 confirm that high frequency items resist structural change to a large extent, while low frequency items do not. This links with the cognitive representation of language and language processing, and illustrates how the use of language shapes the structure of language. Keywords: frequency, structural change, emergent grammar, exemplar model, preterite 1. Introduction The preterite can be described as a synthetic past tense, where the past tense is indicated through inflection on the verb, such as would as the preterite of will, or did as the preterite of do. In many languages, there is a distinction between the present tense, the preterite and the perfect, such as in English with present tense do, preterite did and perfect have done.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of Tense, Aspect and Modality in the French Translation of the Economists’ Warning by the Financial Times
    A Study of Tense, Aspect and Modality in the French Translation of The Economists’ Warning by The Financial Times Servais M. Akpaca∗ Université d’Abomey-Calavi Summary - Translation is the transfer of meaning from a source language to a target language. This transfer is done through sentences. Sentence meaning is conveyed through words, tenses, aspects and modals. This paper focuses on tenses, aspects and modals as elements of sentence semantics. The choice of these elements in the target language is complex most of the time because there is no perfect fit between them in two languages. Résumé - La traduction est le transfert de sens d’une langue source à une langue cible. Ce transfert se fait à travers des phrases. Le sens d’une phrase est véhiculé par les mots, le temps, l’aspect et la modalité. Cet article met l’accent sur le temps, l’aspect et la modalité en tant qu’éléments constitutifs de la sémantique de la phrase. Le choix de ces éléments dans la langue cible est complexe la plupart du temps parce qu’il n’y a pas de correspondance parfaite entre eux dans deux langues différentes. 1. Introduction The point that this discussion on the French translation of The Economists Warning is making is that translation is a semantic exercise in which meaning is expressed mostly at sentence and word levels. It is specifically sentence semantics that the paper is studying through the tenses, the aspects and the modals used in the story and the translation. The contribution of syntax to sentence meaning as demonstrated by MAK Halliday will be discussed in another paper.
    [Show full text]
  • The Origin of the Greek Pluperfect
    Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics The Origin of the Greek Pluperfect Version 1.0 July 2007 Joshua T. Katz Princeton University Abstract: The origin of the pluperfect is the biggest remaining hole in our understanding of the Ancient Greek verbal system. This paper provides a novel unitary account of all four morphological types— alphathematic, athematic, thematic, and the anomalous Homeric form 3sg. ᾔδη (ēídē) ‘knew’—beginning with a “Jasanoff-type” reconstruction in Proto-Indo-European, an “imperfect of the perfect.” © Joshua T. Katz. [email protected] 2 The following paper has had a long history (see the first footnote). This version, which was composed as such in the first half of 2006, will be appearing in more or less the present form in volume 46 of the Viennese journal Die Sprache. It is dedicated with affection and respect to the great Indo-Europeanist Jay Jasanoff, who turned 65 in June 2007. *** for Jay Jasanoff on his 65th birthday The Oxford English Dictionary defines the rather sad word has-been as “One that has been but is no longer: a person or thing whose career or efficiency belongs to the past, or whose best days are over.” In view of my subject, I may perhaps be allowed to speculate on the meaning of the putative noun *had-been (as in, He’s not just a has-been; he’s a had-been!), surely an even sadder concept, did it but exist. When I first became interested in the Indo- European verb, thanks to Jay Jasanoff’s brilliant teaching, mentoring, and scholarship, the study of pluperfects was not only not a “had-been,” it was almost a blank slate.
    [Show full text]
  • German Grammar in English for International Students
    German Grammar in English for International Students Version 2.6 Prof. Dr. Russell Block FK 13 – General Studies University of Applied Sciences – München Winter Semester 2013 © 2013 Contents: Introduction: .............................................................8 Chapter 1: The Sound of German ............................................9 1 Standard German .....................................................9 2 The standard dialect ...................................................9 3 Overview of the German consonants .....................................9 3.1 Tense vs. lax .................................................11 3.2 The final devoicing rule .........................................11 3.3 Comments on individual consonants . 11 3.3.1 Vogel-V ...............................................11 3.3.2 The origin of <w> .......................................12 3.3.3 The problem of /h/ .......................................12 3.3.4 Ach-Laut – ich-Laut ......................................12 3.3.5 The pronunciation of final <g> . 12 3.3.6 The strange case of /s/ ....................................13 3.3.7 r-peculiarities ...........................................13 3.3.8 Affricates ..............................................13 3.3.9 Foreign sounds ..........................................13 3.3.10 The Glottal Stop ///......................................14 4 Vowels ............................................................14 5 The German vowels ..................................................15 5.1 Vowel length
    [Show full text]
  • Lesson Thirty-Eight
    LESSON THIRTY-EIGHT 38.1 Quadriradical Verbs It was noted in §3.1 that a few roots have four radicals. With rare exception, these do not occur in the G stem, but have instead the N as their basic stem; causatives are formed with the S stem, and the iterative Ntn and Stn stems are also attested. Most have either l or r as their sec­ ond radical. A quadriradical of fairly high frequency is nabalkutum N (a) 'to jump, to rebel'; subalkutum S causative. Quadriradical roots in which the last radical is weak, i.e., verbs IV­ weak, are also attested. As expected, in verbs IV-e, a-vowels become e. Examples: naparkilm N (u) 'to cease, stop working'; neb,el$flm N (e) 'to slip'; sub,elf?ilm S causative. NStem Sound IV-u IV-e Infinitive: nabalkutum naparkum neb,el$um Durative: ibbalakkat ipparakku ib,b,ele$$e Perfect: ittabalkat ittaparku itteb,el$e Preterite: ibbalkit ipparki ib,b,el$i Imperative: nabalkit naparki neb,el$i Participle: mubbalkitum mupparkum mub,b,el$um Verbal Adj.: nabalkutum naparkum neb,el$um V. Adj. base: nabalkut naparku neb,el$u S Stem Sound IV-u IV-e Infinitive: subalkutum suparkum sub,el$um Durative: usbalakkat usparakka usb,ele$$e Perfect: ustabalkit ustaparki usteb,el$i Preterite: usbalkit usparki usb,el$i Imperative: subalkit suparki sub,el$i Participle: musbalkitum musparkum musb,el$um Verbal Adj.: subalkutum suparkum sub,el$um V. Adj. base: subalkut suparku su"f_ie[$U LESSON THIRTY-EIGHT 461 Ntn Stem Infinitive: itablakkutum Durative: ittanablakkat Imperative: ? Perfect: ittatablakkat Participle: muttablakkitum Preterite: ittab(a)lakkat StnStem Infinitive: sutablakkutum Durative: ustanablakkat Imperative: ? Perfect: ustatablakkit? Participle: ? Preterite: ustablakkit The irregular verb melulum 'to play' is derived from a quadriradical root II-weak (itself derived from a noun with prefix ma-, from a root 0 3-l-l, originally *J:i-l-l).
    [Show full text]
  • THE USE of the PRETERITE and the PRESENT PERFECT in ENGLISH and GERMAN. a CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS. Institutt for Litteratur, Områ
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives THE USE OF THE PRETERITE AND THE PRESENT PERFECT IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN. A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS. Institutt for litteratur, områdestudier og europeiske språk Det humanistiske fakultet Universitetet i Oslo ENG4190 Høstsemesteret 2011 Jennifer Zug Veileder: Johan Elsness This master thesis deals with the use of the present perfect and the preterite in both English and German. The aim of the investigation is to find out to what extent the use of the present perfect and the preterite vary in English and German and how the original forms are translated into the other language, i.e. whether specific translation patterns can be found. To begin with, a theoretical part summarizes earlier researches by various authors before the main part of the thesis is presented. The research part is a corpus-based analysis, using the Oslo Multilingual Corpus. First of all, the English original preterite forms are looked upon. Three semantic categories could be found in my investigation in which the preterite is used in English: single events, sequences and events occurring regularly. Additionally, the preterite is often used in combination with definite time adverbials. The same categories could also be found when considering the German preterite. Looking at the English translations of the German preterite forms, it is striking that most instances, in total over 90%, were translated into the preterite in English as well. Considering the German translations of the English preterite forms, the preterite is also the preferred tense used in the translations, however, the present perfect appears also frequently in the translations, especially in sentences containing direct speech.
    [Show full text]
  • Tense and Aspect in the Oral and Written Narratives of Two-Way Immersion Students Kim Potowski the University of Illinois at Chicago
    Tense and Aspect in the Oral and Written Narratives of Two-Way Immersion Students Kim Potowski The University of Illinois at Chicago 1. Introduction In the majority of United States two-way immersion (dual immersion) programs, Spanish- speaking and English-speaking children study in the same classrooms and receive content instruction in both Spanish and English. Spanish-speaking children benefit from two-way immersion because, as they learn English, they are integrated with native English-speaking peers throughout the school day. Additionally, two-way immersion allows these students to continue developing their Spanish proficiency. Likewise, English-speaking students in two-way immersion classrooms benefit from interaction with native Spanish-speaking peers, instead of having to rely on the teacher as the sole source of Spanish input (as they must do in “one-way” immersion classrooms, where all students are non-native Spanish speakers)1. Two-way immersion seeks to promote bilingual development and positive cross-cultural attitudes by regarding language as a resource. This approach stands in contrast to most U.S. bilingual education programs that view minority languages as problems that interfere with English acquisition. Research shows that two-way immersion students score higher than national norms on standardized achievement tests, and they score at “proficient” levels of Spanish on standardized language tests (Christian et. al. 1997; Lindholm-Leary 2001). However, to date there have been no direct analyses of two-way immersion students’ grammatical competence. In order to further explore the Spanish proficiency of such students, we administered a number of measures to a graduating class of 52 eighth graders at a two-way immersion school in Chicago, Illinois.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of the Germanic Preterite System: Learnability and the Modeling of Diachronic Morphophonological Change
    The Development of the Germanic Preterite System: Learnability and the Modeling of Diachronic Morphophonological Change Ryan Sandell & Sam Zukoff University of California, Los Angeles & Massachusetts Institute of Technology [email protected], [email protected] 5 January 2017 1. The Problem of Germanic Strong Verbs 1.1. Driving Question: Why and how could learners fail to acquire reduplication as a marker of a morphosyn- tactic category when it was present in the learning data? 1.1.1. In Proto-Indo-European (PIE), past tense is characterized by prefixing reduplication. 1.1.2. In (Proto-)Germanic, past tense is characterized by a variety of stem alternations. 1.1.3. These two systems undoubtedly have a direct historical connection, so what caused the system to change in the way it did? 1.2. Present-day Germanic languages display “irregular” verbs that form their past tense (henceforth preterite) forms by stem alternations, as in the English examples in (1). (1) “Irregular” Verbs in Present-Day English a Eng. present sing : past sang b. Eng. present give : past gave c. Eng. present bite : past bit d. Eng. present hold : past held • The unproductive patterns of “irregular” verbs contrast with the productive formation of past tense forms with a coronal stop suffix: English /-d/, German /-tə/, etc. Cf. Pinker and Prince 1992, Albright and Hayes 2003. 1.3. These stem alternations can be reconstructed to Proto-Germanic (PGmc.), and remained productive in the oldest attested Germanic language, Gothic: (2) Gothic Preterite System Root Types Present Pret. Sg. Pret. Pl. Gloss CeRC roots (Class I–III) beit-an bait bit-un ‘bite’ Non-reduplicated stems CeC roots (Class IV–V) gib-an gaf geːb-un ‘give’ CaC roots (Class VI) far-an foːr foːr-un ‘travel’ CaCC roots (Class VIIa) hald-an hehald hehald-un ‘hold’ “Reduplicated” stems CVːC roots (Class VIIb) leːt-an leloːt leloːt-un ‘let’ 1.3.1.
    [Show full text]