acertar Preterite Conjugation
acertar — to get right
In the preterite, acertar is completely regular: acerté, acertaste, acertó, acertamos, acertasteis, acertaron.
acertar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite when you successfully hit a target or guessed something correctly at a specific point in time in the past.
Notes on acertar in the Preterite
Unlike the present tense, there is NO stem change in the preterite. The 'e' stays an 'e' throughout.
Example Sentences
Ayer acerté todas las respuestas del examen.
Yesterday I got all the exam answers right.
yo
Ella acertó el resultado del partido.
She guessed the match result correctly.
él/ella/usted
Acertamos el camino a pesar de no tener mapa.
We found the right way despite not having a map.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'acierté' with a stem change.
Correct: acerté
Why: The e-to-ie stem change only happens in the present tense, not the preterite.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: acierto
Acertar is a 'boot verb' where the 'e' changes to 'ie' in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Imperfect
yo: acertaba
The imperfect of acertar is regular: acertaba, acertabas, acertaba, acertábamos, acertabais, acertaban.
Future
yo: acertaré
The future is regular: just add -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án to the full infinitive 'acertar'.
Conditional
yo: acertaría
The conditional is regular: add -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían to the infinitive 'acertar'.
Present Subjunctive
yo: acierte
The present subjunctive follows the 'ie' stem change: acierte, aciertes, acierte, acertemos, acertéis, acierten.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: acertara
The imperfect subjunctive is regular based on the preterite stem: acertara, acertaras, acertara, acertáramos, acertarais, acertaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: acierta
The affirmative command uses 'acierta' (tú) and 'acierte' (usted), following the stem change.
Negative Imperative
yo: no aciertes
Negative commands use 'no' plus the present subjunctive forms: no aciertes, no acierte, no acertemos, no acertéis, no acierten.