Transcript PONER, PODER and SABER in the Preterite

PONER, PODER and SABER in the Preterite
The verbs poner, poder and saber have irregular conjugations in
the Preterite tense. They all have a stem change where they
have a “u” in the stem.
PONER – to put / to place
yo
tú
él/ella/ud
puse
pusiste
puso
nosotros
vosotros
ellos/uds
*** Notice that the “n” also changes to “s”
pusimos
pusisteis
pusieron
PODER – to manage / could not
yo
tú
él/ella/ud
pude
pudiste
pudo
nosotros
vosotros
ellos/uds
pudimos
pudisteis
pudieron
The verb PODER has different meanings in the Preterite tense.
In the Present tense PODER means “to be able”. In the
Preterite, it means “managed” in an affirmative sentence and
“could not” in a negative sentence.
Pude parar.
No pude parar.
I managed to stop. (after trying)
I could not stop. (I tried, but failed)
SABER – found out / learned about
yo
tú
él/ella/ud
supe
supiste
supo
nosotros
vosotros
ellos/uds
supimos
supisteis
supieron
* Notice that the “b” changes to “p” in the stem
** The verb SABER means “to know” in the Present, but
means “to find out” or “to learn about” in the Preterite.
Ana sabe la repuesta.
Ana supo la repuesta.
Ana knows the answer.
Ana found out [learned about] the
answer.