Spanish, Irregular Preterite Tense, Imperfect Tense, Gustar , To Take or Drink

Irregular Preterite Tense

A few verbs are irregular in the preterite tense. The following are the most common:

dar - to give		decir - to say, tell		estar - to be
di diste dió	dimos disteis dieron	dije dijiste dijo	dijimos dijisteis dijeron	estuve estuviste estuvo	estuvimos estuvisteis estuvieron
hacer - to do, make		ir - to go / ser- to be		poner - to put, place
hice hiciste hizo	hicimos hicisteis hicieron	fui fuiste fue	fuimos fuisteis fueron	puse pusiste puso	pusimos pusisteis pusieron
tener - to have		traer - to bring		venir - to come
tuve tuviste tuvo	tuvimos tuvisteis tuvieron	traje trajiste trajo	trajimos trajisteis trajeron	vine viniste vino	vinimos vinisteis vinieron

Imperfect Tense

The imperfect is another past tense that is used to express an action as going on in the past, as repeated or habitual. It is also used with mental and physical conditions and for descriptions. The preterite tense is used much more often than the imperfect tense though, except with these verbs: querer, creer, pueder, esperar, tener, and saber. It is formed by adding these endings to the infinitive stem.

-ar verbs			-er and -ir verbs
-aba -abas -aba	-ábamos -abais -aban		-ía -ías -ía	-íamos -íais -ían

Yo vivía en España. I used to live in Spain.
Luisa estaba triste. Louise was tired.
El vendía radios. He was selling radios.

Only a few verbs are irregular in the imperfect tense:

ser - to be			ir - to go			ver - to see
era eras era	éramos erais eran		iba ibas iba	íbamos ibais iban		veía veías veía	veíamos veíais veían

Gustar

Gustar plus a noun means to like something. Literally, it means to please and takes an indirect object, so the construction of the sentence will be different than that of English.

Me gusta(n)	I like	Nos gusta(n)	we like
Te gusta(n)	you like	Os gusta(n)	you like
Le gusta(n)	you/he/she likes	Les gusta(n)	you/they like

Gusta is used with singular nouns, while gustan is used with plural nouns. With le and les, you can add a Ud., a él, a ella, a Uds., a ellos and a ellas to make the meaning clear.

Me gustan las flores. I like the flowers. (Literally: To me are pleasing the flowers or the flowers are pleasing to me.)
Nos gusta la casa. We like the house.
No me gusta. I don't like it.
Le gusta a Ud.? Do you like it?
Le gustan a ella. She likes them.

To Take or Drink

tomar - to take or drink
tomo tomas toma	tomamos tomáis toman

When tomar means to drink, it usually refers to alcohol. In Mexico, tomar can be intransitive, as beber is almost never used. In Spain, tomar is always transitive, such as tomar una copa- to have a drink and tomar un café - to have a coffee.