Talking about becoming a celebrity in Spanish

• Use the preterite tense to talk about what celebrities did before becoming famous.

• The imperfect tense is used to talk about continuous actions in the past.

• This guide contains reading and listening practice.

Useful verbs for talking about becoming a celebrity include:

For example:

Cuando comenzó su carerra de cantante, mucha gente lo criticó. - When he started his career as a singer lots of people criticised him.

Dice que su familia la apoyó y la ayudó mucho al principio. - She says that her family supported her and helped her a lot at the beginning.

Durante su primera temporada con el club, perdió casi todos los partidos. - During his first season with the club, he lost almost every game.

Tuvo que practicar y entrenarse cada día. – She had to practise and train every day.

The Spanish preterite tense is used to describe completed actions in the past.

For example:

Su familia la ayudó. – Her family helped her.

Decicidió casarse. – He decided to get married.

La cantante hizo muchos conciertos. – The singer did lots of concerts.

Most verbs are regular in the preterite tense. This means that they follow a pattern.

For regular verbs, the preterite is formed by removing the ar/er/ir from the infinitive to form the stem and adding the preterite endings:

Spelling changes in the ‘I’ form

Some verbs in the preterite tense have a spelling change in the yo (I) form only, including:

For example:

Comencé a cantar de niño. - I started singing as a child.

Empecé a bailar a la edad de cinco años. - I started to dance at the age of five.

Some of the most common verbs in Spanish are irregular. This means that they don’t follow the usual pattern in the preterite tense. They have to be learned separately.

Some of the most useful irregular verbs in the preterite are:

• ser - to be

• ir - to go

• hacer - to make, to do

• tener - to have

Find out more about irregular verbs in the preterite in the Irregular verbs in the preterite tense in Spanish guide.

Read the extract of an interview with Diego, a Mexican actor and answer the questions below in English.

Cuando era más joven no quería ser actor. Era enfermera en un hospital. Un día un amigo, que estaba produciendo programas de televisión, me pidió consejos sobre cómo filmar* en un hospital. Luego dijo que había una oportunidad para un pequeño papel en el programa.

Lo más difícil fue cambiar mis emociones muy rápido. Una vez tuve que estar triste, al rato, muy feliz. Pero me encantó y ahora tengo mucho trabajo como actor.

*filmar = to film

Useful adjectives to describe becoming a celebrity include:

Useful terms to describe frequency include:

For example:

Practicaba la guitarra cada día. – I/He/She used to practise the guitar every day.

Nunca perdía un partido. – I/He/She never lost/missed a match.

Se entrenaban diariamente. – They used to train daily.

Antes era desconocida pero ahora es muy conocida por todo el mundo. – Before she was unknown, but she is now known worldwide.

Cantaba en el colegio dos veces a la semana. – I/He/She used to sing at school twice a week.

All Foundation Tier vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

The imperfect tense is used:

• to describe repeated or continuous actions in the past

• to describe what something or someone was like in the past

• to say what people used to do or what things used to be like

For example:

Iba a los conciertos con sus amigos. - I used to go to concerts with friends.

Mi primer partido para el club era muy difícil. - My first match for the club was very difficult.

The imperfect tense is frequently used with phrases that describe how often something used to happen.

For example:

• regularmente - regularly

• a veces - sometimes

• cada día/todos los días - every day

• generalmente - usually

The majority of verbs are regular in the imperfect tense.

The imperfect is formed by removing the ar, ir and er endings from the infinitive to form the stem and adding the imperfect endings:

The endings for er and ir verbs are the same.

There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect tense in Spanish:

The imperfect of hay (there is/there are) is había (there was/there were/there used to be). Había is used frequently for describing things in the past.

For example:

Había muchas personalidades en este programa. – There used to be lots of celebrities in this programme.

No había mucho apoyo para los jóvenes. – There was not much support for young people.

Have a look at the The imperfect tense in Spanish guide to find out more about using the imperfect.

Listen to these three celebrities talking about how they became famous, and complete each of the sentences below.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when describing how people become celebrities.

Useful vocabulary for talking about becoming a celebrity includes:

All vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

The majority of verbs are regular in the imperfect tense.

The imperfect is formed by removing the ar, ir and er endings from the infinitive to form the stem and adding the imperfect endings.

The full conjugation of the verb is needed at the Higher Tier.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of Higher Tier useful vocabulary to use when describing becoming a celebrity.

Now you have revised the important vocabulary and key grammar points for talking about becoming a celebrity why not have a look at the Describing festivals, customs and celebrations in Spanish guide?