comportar Preterite Conjugation
comportar — to entail
Comporté, compraste, compró, compramos, comprastéis, compraron are the regular preterite forms of comportarse.
comportar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite for actions related to behavior or entailment that were completed at a specific point in the past. For example, how someone behaved during a specific event or what a situation entailed up to a certain conclusion.
Notes on comportar in the Preterite
Comportar is regular in the preterite. The 'nosotros' form, 'comportamos', is identical to the present indicative 'nosotros' form; context is key to differentiate them.
Example Sentences
Ayer, me comporté muy bien en la cena.
Yesterday, I behaved very well at the dinner.
yo
¿Cómo te comportaste en la escuela hoy?
How did you behave at school today?
tú
El equipo se comportó de manera ejemplar.
The team behaved in an exemplary manner.
él/ella/usted
Ellos se comportaron como profesionales.
They behaved like professionals.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using the imperfect instead of the preterite for a single, completed action.
Correct: For a specific instance of behavior, use 'Me comporté bien ayer' (preterite), not 'Me comportaba bien ayer' (imperfect).
Why: The preterite marks completed actions, while the imperfect describes ongoing or habitual past actions.
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the 'yo' form.
Correct: The 'yo' form is 'comporté' with an accent on the 'e'.
Why: The accent distinguishes the preterite 'yo' form from other similar verb forms and indicates the stressed syllable.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: comporto
The present indicative (comporto, comportas, comporta, comportamos, comportáis, comportan) describes current actions and habits.
Imperfect
yo: comportaba
The imperfect of comportar (comportaba, comportabas, comportaba, comportábamos, comportabais, comportaban) describes past habits and ongoing actions.
Future
yo: comportaré
The future tense (comportaré, comportarás, comportará, etc.) indicates actions that will happen.
Conditional
yo: comportaría
The conditional of comportar (comportaría, comportarías, comportaría, etc.) expresses hypotheticals and polite requests.
Present Subjunctive
yo: comporte
The present subjunctive (comporte, comportes, comportemos, comportéis, comporten) expresses wishes, doubts, and emotions.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: comportara
The imperfect subjunctive of comportar (comportara/comportase) is used for past hypotheticals, wishes, and in polite requests.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: comporta
Comporta, comporte, comportemos, comportad, comporten are the imperative commands for comportar.
Negative Imperative
yo: no comportes
Negative commands like no comportes, no comporte, no comportemos, no comportéis, no comporten use the present subjunctive.