Pretérito Anterior, Adverbs ending in -mente and Degrees of Comparison of Adverbs

Ya es tarde

— Hasta pronto.

Vocablos

Remember the expressions:

Grammar

1. Past Anterior (pretérito anterior)

The Pretérito anterior (past anterior) expresses a past, perfect and completed action that immediately precedes another action in the past. Thus, right after the completion of the action expressed by the pretérito anterior, another action follows, usually expressed by verbs in the simple past tense (pretérito indefinido).

In Spanish, the past anterior tense is used very rarely (mostly in literature) and is usually accompanied by the following conjunctions:

For example:

Pretérito anterior is formed using the auxiliary verb haber in the simple past tense (pretérito indefinido) and the past participle (participio pasivo) of the conjugated verb.

Note:

The verb divertirse to have fun is conjugated like the verb comenzar (group I of stem-changing verbs, cf. Lesson 9).

The verb recoger to pick up; to collect belongs to regular verbs, but its conjugation involves a spelling change of the last letter of the verb stem; the consonant g before the vowel o changes to j in order to preserve the sound of the verb stem.

2. Adverbs of Manner (adverbio de modo)

Adverbs of manner are formed from adjectives by adding the suffix -mente to the feminine form of the adjective, for example:

If the adjective from which the adverb is formed is too long, the adverb can be formed using the nouns modo, manera (way, manner) and the adjective itself, for example:

instead of:

you can say:

3. Degrees of Comparison of Adverbs

Adverbs, just like adjectives, have three degrees of comparison:

The degree of equality (el comparativo de igualdad) of adverbs, as with adjectives, is expressed using the word tan, which is placed before the adverb, and como, which is placed after the adverb, for example:

The superior or inferior degrees of comparison (el comparativo de superioridad о de inferioridad) of adverbs are formed using más or menos, which are placed before the adverb, and the conjunction que, which usually follows the adverb, e.g.:

The superlative degree of adverbs is formed by adding the neuter article lo to the comparative form of the adverb, for example:

This form of the superlative degree of adverbs is usually used in combination with the word posible, which translates into English as as ... as possible, for example:

The superlative degree of adverbs can also be formed without the conjunction que after the adverb, just by using más placed before the adverb, for example:

The following adverbs have irregular forms of comparison:

Exercises

I. Conjugate the given verbs in the corresponding tenses and persons:

saludar

prometer

decidir

II. Substitute the infinitive verb with the correct form of Pretérito anterior:

Juana salió de casa y en seguida que comprar un periódico, regresó. Apenas salir de la casa, recordó que no había cerrado la puerta. Apenas cerrar la puerta oyó pasos, se volvió y vio a un hombre grandísimo. En seguida que lo ver abrió la puerta y entró temblorosa en casa.

III. Translate into English:

Miguel miraba las fotografías y no sabía qué fotografía mandar a quién. Iba por la calle pensando en esto, cuando encontró a Juana y María. En seguida que las hubo visto se acercó y se las dio. Las muchachas le aconsejaron qué fotografías debía mandar. En seguida que las hubo dejado, Miguel fue al correo.

IV. Translate into Spanish:

As soon as I had got up, I drank a cup of coffee. (While) drinking coffee, I was thinking about Juana. As soon as I had thought about her, someone knocked on the door. Barely had I opened the door, (when) Juan and Juana came in and invited me to the theater. As soon as we had left the house, we met Jose and Maria who were also going to my place. We all went to the theater talking on the way about my impressions of Madrid.