📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 11 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 3 · El estilo indirecto en pasado
La concordancia de tiempos
Module 9 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 11 of 30: When the reporting verb goes into the past, every tense inside steps one place back. On this page: 9 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
dijo que venía
he said he was coming
DEE-hoh keh beh-NEE-ah
dijo que había terminado
he said he had finished
DEE-hoh keh ah-BEE-ah tehr-mee-NAH-doh
dijo que vendría
he said he would come
DEE-hoh keh behn-DREE-ah
la concordancia de tiempos
the sequence of tenses
lah kohn-kohr-DAHN-syah deh TYEHM-pohs
retroceder
to step back
rreh-troh-seh-DEHR
el desfase
the shift
ehl dehs-FAH-seh
la regla general
the general rule
lah RREH-glah heh-neh-RAHL
mecánico
mechanical (m)
meh-KAH-nee-koh
ellos venían todos los días
they came every day
EH-yohs beh-NEE-ahn TOH-dohs lohs DEE-ahs
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
When the reporting verb goes into the past, every tense inside steps one place back. Presente becomes imperfecto: «vengo» gives dijo que venía. Pretérito or pretérito perfecto becomes pluscuamperfecto: «terminé» gives dijo que había terminado.
Y también · And also
Futuro becomes condicional: «vendré» gives dijo que vendría. Three shifts, and they are the whole of the concordancia de tiempos. The imperfecto itself does not move — it is already as far back as it goes: «venía todos los días» gives dijo que venía todos los días.
Ojo · Watch out
With the reporting verb in the past: presente becomes imperfecto, pretérito becomes pluscuamperfecto, futuro becomes condicional. The imperfecto itself does not move.
decir, pluscuamperfecto — the table
yo había dicho · tú habías dicho · él/ella/usted había dicho · nosotros habíamos dicho · ustedes habían dicho · ellos/ellas habían dicho
venir, imperfecto — the table
yo venía · tú venías · él/ella/usted venía · nosotros veníamos · ustedes venían · ellos/ellas venían
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with dijo que venía.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out decir, pluscuamperfecto and venir, imperfecto 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.