Topic:
This lesson covers verbs that introduce a "j" in their stem in the preterite, like traje for I brought.
"J" Stems in the Preterite
Although we are still slaying the irregular verb dragons in the preterite tense, this lesson won't be as crazy as the last one.
All the preterite conjugations in this lesson include a "j" in their form, so they can be readily learned as a group.
Because it is a common word, you may already have some experience with these forms of our first example.
That verb is decir which means to say.
Preterite conjugation of decir






Let's look at another, which is very similar. This verb is predecir
, which means to predict.
Since this word literally looks like pre-say, I bet you can guess the preterite conjugations:
Preterite conjugation of predecir






Other J-Stem Preterite Verbs
Not all the J-stem verbs have -decir as their ending, but they do all work similarly.
Let's take a look at traducir
which means to translate.
Preterite conjugation of traducir






Let's do another common verb. Traer
means to bring.
Preterite conjugation of traer






Some other J-stem verbs are atraer (to attract), conducir (to drive, to conduct), deducir (to deduce), and reducir (to reduce).
With that, let's practice. Remember that every verb in this lesson will have a j-stem in the preterite.