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      Holiday activities: -ar, -er, -ir verbs 1st person plural present and preterite

      Lesson details

      Learning outcome

      I can use -ar, -er and -ir verbs in the preterite tense to describe past holiday activities.

      Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

      Key learning points

      1. For regular -er verbs, the verb ending -emos refers to 'we' in the present tense.
      2. For regular -er verbs, the verb ending -imos refers to 'we' in the preterite tense.
      3. For regular -ir verbs, the verb ending -imos refers to 'we' in the present and preterite tenses.
      4. For regular -ar verbs, the verb ending -amos refers to 'we' in the present and preterite tenses.

      Keywords

      • Preterite - tense used for completed events in the past

      • 1st person plural - form of pronouns and verbs used to refer to 'we'

      Common misconception

      -er verbs have the same ending in the 1st person plural of the present and preterite tenses.

      Unlike -ir verbs, -er verbs do not have the same ending in these tenses. The verb ending -emos is used in the present tense and -imos is used in the preterite tense.

      Teacher tip

      While introducing Task C2, teachers may wish to highlight how Spanish colonial conquests during the 1500s and 1600s led to the fall of the Maya civilisation and imposition of Spanish language and culture in South and Central America.

      Licence

      This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2026), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0
      except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions
      (Collection 2).

      Lesson video

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      Prior knowledge starter quiz

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Which adjective is not shortened before singular masculine nouns?

      bueno
      malo
      grande
      Correct answer: único

      Q2.
      Match the demonstrative adjectives and nouns.

      Correct Answer:ese,avión

      avión

      Correct Answer:esa,talla

      talla

      Correct Answer:esos,escritores

      escritores

      Correct Answer:esas,artistas

      artistas

      Q3.
      Match the Spanish and English.

      Correct Answer:aire (m),air

      air

      Correct Answer:dueño (m),owner

      owner

      Correct Answer:hambre (f),hunger

      hunger

      Correct Answer:regalo (m),present

      present

      Correct Answer:sitio (m),place

      place

      Correct Answer:sed (f),thirst

      thirst

      Q4.
      Order the words to say: 'yesterday we spent too much time in the queue'.

      1 - ayer
      2 - pasamos
      3 - demasiado
      4 - tiempo
      5 - en
      6 - la
      7 - cola

      Q5.
      Write in English: 'compro un recuerdo'.

      Correct Answer: I buy a souvenir, I am buying a souvenir, I'm buying a souvenir

      Q6.
      Write in Spanish: 'I eat dinner in the restaurant'.

      Correct Answer: ceno en el restaurante, yo ceno en el restaurante

      4 Questions

      Q1.
      Which verb does not refer to both the present and preterite?

      Correct answer: volvimos
      vivimos
      visitamos

      Q2.
      Order the words to say: 'we eat chicken and we ate meat'.

      1 - comemos
      2 - pollo
      3 - y
      4 - comimos
      5 - carne

      Q3.
      Write in Spanish: 'we shared'.

      Correct Answer: compartimos, nosotros compartimos, nosotras compartimos

      Q4.
      Write in Spanish: 'we swam'.

      Correct Answer: nadamos, nosotros nadamos, nosotras nadamos

      To help you plan your 9 Spanish lesson on: Holiday activities: -ar, -er, -ir verbs 1st person plural present and preterite, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...