jugar Preterite Conjugation
jugar — to play
The preterite of jugar is mostly regular, but the 'yo' form changes to jugué to keep the hard 'g' sound.
jugar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite when you finished a specific game, match, or session of play at a concrete point in the past.
Notes on jugar in the Preterite
It is a 'car/gar/zar' verb. In the 'yo' form, the 'g' becomes 'gu' (jugué) to maintain the hard sound; otherwise, it would sound like the 'j' in 'hijo'. All other forms are regular.
Example Sentences
Ayer jugué al tenis con mi hermano.
Yesterday I played tennis with my brother.
yo
¿Jugaste el partido el sábado pasado?
Did you play the match last Saturday?
tú
Jugamos muy bien, pero perdimos.
We played very well, but we lost.
nosotros
Los niños jugaron en el parque toda la tarde.
The children played in the park all afternoon.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'jugé' for the yo form.
Correct: jugué
Why: Without the 'u', the 'g' would sound like a raspy 'h' (h-sound) because it's followed by an 'e'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: juego
Jugar is a stem-changer where the 'u' becomes 'ue' in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Imperfect
yo: jugaba
The imperfect of jugar is regular: jugaba, jugabas, jugaba, jugábamos, jugabais, jugaban.
Future
yo: jugaré
The future tense of jugar is completely regular: just add the endings to the infinitive.
Conditional
yo: jugaría
The conditional of jugar is regular: just add -ía endings to the infinitive 'jugar'.
Present Subjunctive
yo: juegue
The present subjunctive of jugar combines the 'ue' stem change with a 'gu' spelling change.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: jugara
The imperfect subjunctive of jugar is based on the preterite 'ellos' form: jugara, jugaras...
Affirmative Imperative
yo: juega
The imperative of jugar uses the 'ue' stem change for most commands.
Negative Imperative
yo: no juegues
The negative imperative of jugar uses the present subjunctive forms preceded by 'no'.