Madrigals Magic Key to Spanish (87 page)

Notice that “pagué” ends in “gué” instead of just “gé.” Verbs that end in “gar” in the infinitive end in “gué” in the first person past, in order to retain the hard sound of the “g.” The hard “g” is sometimes indicated in the same way in English. The “g” in “gentle” is soft, and in order to make it hard you spell it “gue” as in “guest.” The “gue” in Spanish is pronounced as the “gue” in “guest.”

INFINITIVE	FIRST PERSON PAST	THIRD PERSON PAST
investigar, to investigate	investigué, I investigated	investigó, you investigated
cargar, to load	cargué, I loaded	cargó, you loaded
castigar, to punish	castigué, I punished	castigó, you punished
fumigar, to fumigate	fumigué, I fumigated	fumigó, you fumigated
irrigar, to irrigate	irrigué, I irrigated	irrigó, you irrigated
llegar, to arrive	llegué, I arrived	llegó you arrived
entregar, to deliver	entregué, I delivered	entregó, you delivered
navegar, to sail	navegué, I sailed	navegó, you sailed
jugar, to play ( a game )	jugué, I played	jugó, you played
apagar, to put out ( the light )	apagué, I put out (the light)	apagó, you put out (the light)
obligar, to oblige, force	obligué, I forced	obligó, you forced
PUBLICAR, to publish	PUBLIQUÉ, I published	PUBLICÓ, you, he, she published