“Spanish Verbs 46” most commonly refers to Lesson 46 of “The Language Tutor” series by Dr. Danny Evans, which focuses on the irregular past tense (preterite) conjugations of three essential verbs: poder (to be able to), poner (to put), and saber (to know).
These three verbs are notorious for completely changing their word stems when you talk about the past. Below is the breakdown of how they change and how to conjugate them. The Irregular Past Stems
Unlike regular Spanish verbs, these three drop their original stems in the preterite tense and adopt a brand-new irregular stem: Poder changes to pud- Poner changes to pus- Saber changes to sup- Irregular Preterite Endings
Because these are irregular “stem-changing” past-tense verbs, they all share a specific set of endings. Notice that none of these endings use written accent marks. Yo (I) -e Tú (You, informal) -iste Él / Ella / Usted (He / She / You, formal) -o Nosotros (We) -imos Vosotros (You all, Spain) -isteis Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes (They / You all) -ieron Complete Conjugation Tables
By combining the new irregular stems with the endings above, you get the final past-tense forms: 1. Poder (pud-) — To be able to / Succeeded in Yo pude (I could / I managed to) Tú pudiste (You could) Él / Ella / Usted pudo (He/She could) Nosotros pudimos (We could) Vosotros pudisteis (You all could) Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes pudieron (They/You all could) 2. Poner (pus-) — To put / place Yo puse (I put) Tú pusiste (You put) Él / Ella / Usted puso (He/She put) Nosotros pusimos (We put) Vosotros pusisteis (You all put) Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes pusieron (They/You all put) 3. Saber (sup-) — To know (facts) / Found out
Note: In the preterite past tense, saber usually translates to “found out” rather than “knew.” Yo supe (I found out) Tú supiste (You found out) Él / Ella / Usted supo (He/She found out) Nosotros supimos (We found out) Vosotros supisteis (You all found out) Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes supieron (They found out)
Watch Dr. Danny Evans walk through these tricky stem changes step-by-step: Past Tense Verbs Pt.3 (Poder, Poner & Saber) The Language Tutor – Spanish YouTube · Nov 24, 2019 Other Possible References for “46”
Depending on your exact study materials, this might also refer to:
Language Transfer (Spanish Track 46): This audio lesson covers object pronouns and how to naturally structures phrases like “they were trying to find it for me”.
Standard Textbook Page 46: Commonly covers basic vocabulary introduction like introductory infinitives (nadar, bailar, leer).
If you are following a specific curriculum, let me know if you are looking for The Language Tutor Lesson 46, Language Transfer Track 46, or a specific textbook chapter so I can tailor the exercises for you! YouTube·Language Transfer
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