El Imperfectovs
El pretérito
What is the imperfect tense and when do we use it?
O The imperfect tense is another way of talking about the past. It is used in Spanish to describe:
O Repeated actions in the past: Comíamos a las dos todos los días. (We ate at two every day)
O Background details (what someone or something was like or was doing): El hotel era muy grande. (The hotel was very big.)
O What people used to do and what things used to be like: Antes vivía con mis abuelos, pero ahoravivi sola. (I used to live with my grandparents, but I live on my own now.)
Why is it important?
O To tell a story in the past successfully you
need to be able to use the imperfect tense
for descriptions and repeated actions.
O You should be able to combine the
imperfect with the preterite tense correctly,
in order to successfully express yourself
using past tense in Spanish
Things to look out for
O You use the preterite tense for single
events in the past and the imperfect
tense for repeated or continuous actions
in the past:
When the phone
rang - preterite
I was washing my
hair - Imperfect
How does it work?O The imperfect tense is formed by taking the infinitive
of a verb, removing the endings (-ar, -er, -ir) and then
adding the following endings. Note that –er and –ir
verbs take the same endings in the imperfect.
Hablar Hacer Vivir
yo hablaba hacía vivía
tú hablabas hacías vivías
él/ella hablaba hacía vivía
nosotros/as hablábamos hacíamos vivíamos
vosotros/as hablabais hacíais vivíais
ellos/ellas hablaban hacían vivían
IrregularsO There are three verbs that are irregular in the
imperfect tense:
Ir (to go) Ser (to be) Ver (to see)
yo iba era veía
tú ibas eras veías
él/ella iba era veía
nosotros/as ibamos éramos veíamos
vosotros/as ibais erais veíais
ellos/ellas iban eran veían
Preterite or Imperfect?
O On the following slides you will see some
English sentences in the past tense.
O If you were translating these sentences
into Spanish would you use the preterite
or imperfect tense?
I watched a film last night
I used to walk to school
I went to France last year
The house was big
I woke up at 7am
I woke up at 7am every day
They were happy
¿Qué tal?
O How confident do you feel about when to
use the imperfect tense and when to use
the preterite?