📖LearnModule 3 · Lesson 4 of 30Basic User · CEFR A2, first halfUnit 1 · El pretérito — the past, part I
Jugué, leyó — the spelling changes
Module 3 of the free Spanish course (CEFR A2, first half), lesson 4 of 30: Some regular verbs change a letter to keep their sound. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
yo jugué
I played
yoh hoo-GEH
yo llegué
I arrived
yoh yeh-GEH
yo busqué
I looked for
yoh boos-KEH
ella leyó un libro
she read a book
EH-yah leh-YOH oon LEE-broh
yo leí
I read (past)
yoh leh-EE
llegar
to arrive
yeh-GAR
buscar
to look for
boos-KAR
ellos llegaron tarde
they arrived late
EH-yohs yeh-GAH-rohn TAR-deh
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Some regular verbs change a letter to keep their sound. Jugar gives jugué (the u keeps the g hard), llegar gives llegué, buscar gives busqué. Only the yo form changes; jugaste, jugó and the rest are plain.
Y también · And also
Leer puts a y between two vowels: leyó, leyeron — but leí, leíste, leímos with an accent on the í. The sound never changes; only the spelling bends to protect it.
Ojo · Watch out
jugué and llegué carry an accent AND a silent u: the u keeps the g hard, the accent marks the stress. Written jugé, the g would say h.
jugar, pretérito — the table
yo jugué · tú jugaste · él/ella/usted jugó · nosotros jugamos · ustedes jugaron · ellos/ellas jugaron
llegar, pretérito — the table
yo llegué · tú llegaste · él/ella/usted llegó · nosotros llegamos · ustedes llegaron · ellos/ellas llegaron
leer, pretérito — the table
yo leí · tú leíste · él/ella/usted leyó · nosotros leímos · ustedes leyeron · ellos/ellas leyeron
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with yo jugué.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out jugar, pretérito and llegar, pretérito and leer, pretérito in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.