📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 13 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 3 · El estilo indirecto en pasado
Contar una pregunta en pasado
Module 9 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 13 of 30: A reported question in the past takes both changes at once: the question marks go. 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
me preguntó si venía
he asked me if I was coming
meh preh-goon-TOH see beh-NEE-ah
qué hacía
what I was doing
keh ah-SEE-ah
interrogar
to question
een-teh-rroh-GAR
el interrogatorio
the questioning
ehl een-teh-rroh-gah-TOH-ryoh
plano
flat (m)
PLAH-noh
desaparecer
to disappear
deh-sah-pah-reh-SEHR
la pista
the clue
lah PEES-tah
correctamente
correctly
koh-rrehk-tah-MEHN-teh
ellos preguntaron por ti
they asked about you
EH-yohs preh-goon-TAH-rohn pohr tee
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
A reported question in the past takes both changes at once: the question marks go, and the tense steps back. «¿Vienes?» becomes me preguntó si venía. «¿Qué haces?» becomes me preguntó qué hacía.
Y también · And also
The question word keeps its accent inside the report — qué, dónde, cuándo — and si carries none. No question mark survives; that is the tell that you have done it properly. Preguntar in the pretérito: pregunté, preguntó, preguntaron.
Ojo · Watch out
A reported question in the past shifts both the marks and the tense: me preguntó si venía. No question mark survives — if one does, you have not reported it. si (whether) has no accent; qué keeps its own.
preguntar, pretérito — the table
yo pregunté · tú preguntaste · él/ella/usted preguntó · nosotros preguntamos · ustedes preguntaron · ellos/ellas preguntaron
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with me preguntó si venía.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out preguntar, 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.