I JuST DON'T GET SPANISH PRETERITE!!!?

Question

I've already failed the test twice, and I just don't get it! He won't give me tutorials either he just says visit his website for useful links, and that just makes it more confusing.
I just don't get how everything works out in it.
If anyone has useful tips, please help me. I'm like almost crying since this is the last week for grades and I'm failing....

Okay well on the test he gives me sentences like "I played...", "I gave..." , etc,. etc. and you have to translate it like toqué and di. But I'm not sure where to add accents at and other things.
And words such as He Went...., He had lunch....., He gave....

Oh and to the second answer, I DID STUDY ALL NIGHT AND A WEEK BEFORE. I JUST DON'T GET IT.

Answer 1

Accents are usually on the last letter. AR verbs will add these endings to the verb stem:

Yo - é
tú - aste
Ud./él/ella - ó
nosotros - amos
ustedes - aron

So for "caminar", for example, you would come out with caminé, caminaste, caminó, caminamos and caminaron.

IR/ER verbs will generally do the following:

yo - í
tú - iste
Ud./él/ella - ió
nosotros - imos
ustedes - ieron

So for a regular ER verb like comer, it would be conjugated comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comieron.

There are exceptions (read: HIGHLY WEIRD VERBS) like "tener" and "ser" and "ir" that you just have to memorize in all their oddness. Tener, for example, is conjugated tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvieron and there's really no rhyme or reason to it. You just have to memorize it.

And no need to be mean, Alessandra. (person above me)

Answer 2

try this site:
http://www.studyspanish.com/tutorial.htm
Go down to unit six, there are some explanations about the Preterite.

Answer 3

If you had studied you would have passed the exam. An if you had passed your exam you wouldn´t have asked that in Yahoo! Answers.

Answer 4

si hubieras estudiado mejor no hubieras fracasado.