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Spanish Word the Day

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USE OF THE IMPERFECT AND PRETERITE TENSES

The IMPERFECT tense should be used for:

1) Descriptions in the past

Ejemplo:

Hacía buen tiempo, el sol brillaba y el cielo era azúl =
The weather was fine, the sun shone and the sky was blue

2) Repeated action in the past

Ejemplos (examples):

Siempre se levantaba tarde durante las vacaciones =
He always got up late during the holidays

Cuando caía, lloraba =
Whenever she fell, she cried

3) To express 'used to/was/were + ing'

Ejemplos:

Leía el periódico cuando era más joven =
He used to read the newspaper when he was younger

Cocinaba (imperfecto) en la cocina, cuando ella volvió (preterito) a casa =
He was cooking (imperfect) in the kitchen, when she returned (preterite) home

The PRETERITE tense should be used for:

1) Completed usually short actions in the past

Ejemplo:

Terminó sus deberes ayer =
He finished his homework yesterday

2) Often a series of short actions, each one of which takes the story a step further

Ejemplo:

Paró el coche, cerró la puerta y caminó hacia su casa =
He stopped his car, shut the door and walked towards his house

IMPERFECT vs PRETERITE

To tell a story in the past, the verbs must be examined in connection with each other. For each verb, decide which category it fits into:

Preterite

Imperfect

- New state of affairs when the action took place

- The action was completed when another took place

- Existing/interrupted state of affairs when something else happened

- The action was going on when another took place

Ejemplo:

Los estudiantes estaban callados (imperfecto) cuando se abrió (preterito) la puerta =
The students were quiet (imperfect) when the door opened (preterite)