KS4 · Spanish · Year 11
¿Cómo fue?: preterite 'ir' and 'ser'
Travel and tourism: lugares y personas famosos
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/10
Your learning goal
I can use singular plural forms of 'ser' and 'ir' in the preterite tense in the context of a trip to a book fair.
1 of 10
¿Cómo fue?: preterite 'ir' and 'ser': slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.
Original teaching resources
The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.
Download original PowerPoint ↓What you’ll learn
I can use singular plural forms of 'ser' and 'ir' in the preterite tense in the context of a trip to a book fair.
Key learning points
- The verbs 'ser' and 'ir' have the same preterite tense conjugations.
- The preterite tense forms of 'ser' and 'ir' are 'fui', 'fuiste', 'fue', 'fuimos', 'fuisteis' and 'fueron'.
- The preterite tense of 'ser' can be used to describe completed events or situations in the past.
- World Book Day (April 23rd) marks Cervantes' and Shakespeare's deaths. Many Spanish cities celebrate with book fairs.
- In Catalonia, Sant Jordi coincides with World Book Day. People give a book and a flower as a symbol of love and culture.
Words to know
- ser
- verb meaning 'to be, being' for general traits
- ir
- verb meaning 'to go, going'
- preterite
- verb tense used to talk about completed actions in the past
Common mistakes
The only translation of 'fue' is 'she, he, it was'.
'Fue' can mean 'she, he, it was' or 'she, he, it went' depending on the context. The verbs 'ser' and 'ir' are identical in the preterite tense.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Further consolidation of the misconception can be addressed in the lesson by asking students to translate the text in Task B2 during the final learning cycle.

