Preterite and Imperfect

Two verb forms used for the past tense

In English

• English has only one simple tense to describe events that happened in the past. Spanish uses two past tenses: The preterite and the imperfect

How do you know when to use each one?

• Decide whether the action had a specific beginning and ending. Use the preterite if the action started and ended at a definite time.

• La guerra empezó en 1846• The war began in 1846

• Yesterday I went to Salem Willows• Ayer fui a Salem Willows

Here’s how continued

• Use the imperfect to talk about past actions without saying when they began or ended.

• Los guerreros no tenían miedo del enemigo.• The warriors were not afraid of the enemy.

• El ejército peleaba valientemente.• The army fought bravely.

Use the imperfect for repeated events in the past

• When I was a child, I went to the beach everyday.

• Cuando yo era niña, iba a la playa cada día.

• Yesterday I went to the beach• Ayer, fui a la playa.

You can use both tenses to talk about overlapping events

• The preterite for the action that occurred• The imperfect for what was going on at the

time.• Cuando la guerra terminó, Santa Ana era

presidente.• When the war ended, Santa Ana was

president.

Note:

The background event (Santa Ana was president) is in the imperfect.

The main event (the war ended) is in the preterite.

More examples

I ran everyday last summer, but on July 4th I did not run.

Corría todos los días el verano pasado, pero en el 4th de julio, no corrí

Two actions in one sentence

• Frequently there is more than one action expressed in the same sentence. In order to determine the tense to be used for each verb, it is helpful to think of a stage.

Two actions in the same sentence

• Anything that is scenery or that takes place in the background is expressed by the imperfect.

• Any action that is carried out by the performers on that scene is in the preterite.