CONJUGATION: Hacer (Pretérito)

Aug 26, 2015

This song is a simple rhythm combined with a melodic chant that was designed to teach the preterit tense conjugations of hacer.  

I made quite a few of these conjugation rhythms early on in my teaching career, and while they're no longer the focus of this site, I do hold them rather near and dear to my heart.  After all, they were my first foray into creating music for education, and I still love them, warts and all.  Admittedly, some of the warts are pretty big.  

I also made a video for this song:

KARAOKE AUDIO:

Download this puzzle to practice the Hacer-Pretérito conjugations.

Side note #1:

I found the karaoke version of this song to be particularly useful in teaching a lot of other irregular preterit verb conjugations.  I would shout out an irregular verb while playing the karaoke track, and students would sing the conjugations in the exact melody as Hacer.  

ME: ¡SABER!

STUDENTS: Supe, Supiste, Supo, Supimos, Supieron

ME: ¡TENER!

STUDENTS: Tuve, Tuviste, Tuvo, Tuvimos, Tuvieron

Side note #2:

Over the years, many people have asked me why I never included the vosotros conjugations in these songs.  Long story short, I was making these songs only for my students, and I personally did not see the need to teach vosotros to Spanish 1.  I had no idea that, many years later, these songs would be heard by people all around the world.  Had I known, I probably would have included the vosotros form.  

That said, if you want to add vosotros to this verb chant, there is a relatively easy fix.  In the song, take note of the pause after the third-person-plural form.  You can easily add the vosotros form in this space.  And although you could probably figure out a creative way to include vosotros in that spot, the more fun thing to do is to ask your students to figure out how to add it.  In my experience, students are usually up to the challenge, and even better, then they'll have more ownership over it.   

By the way, if your class does end up creating an effective way of adding vosotros into the chant, consider recording them with your smartphone and emailing it to me.  I might just add the audio to this page. 

Side note #3:

I first released this song on my 2007 album, Billy la Bufanda y Amigos.  Hard to believe it's been so long.  What you do you guys think?  Do you still find value in these old conjguation songs?