Preterite vs. Imperfect: the Past Tenses
In Spanish, there are two simple past tenses: the preterite and the imperfect.
In very general terms, the preterite tense is used to refer to a single event that happened at a specific point of time or had a specific duration in the past, while the imperfect tense is used to describe ongoing events or events without a specific time period in the past.
Preterite
-ar verbs |
-er & -ir verbs Example: VIVIR (to live) |
|||
| yo (I) |
-é | salté I jumped |
-í | viví I lived |
| tú (you) |
-aste | saltaste you jumped |
-iste | viviste you lived |
| él, ella (he, she, it) |
-ó | saltó he/she jumped |
-ió | vivió he/she lived |
| nosotros/as (we) |
-amos | saltamos we jumped |
-imos | vivimos we lived |
| vosotros/as (you all) |
-asteis | saltasteis you all jumped |
-isteis | vivisteis you all lived |
| ellos, ellas (they) |
-aron | saltaron they jumped |
-ieron | vivieron they lived |
The preterite tense is used...
- To describe something that happened once.
- Cantó una canción. (He sang a song.)
- Escribí la carta. (I wrote the letter.)
- I woke up early this morning. (Me desperté temprano esta mañana)
- To describe something that happened more than once, but had a specific end.
- Fui a cuatro restaurantes la semana pasada. (I went to four restaurants last week.)
- De niño, fui de camping cada verano. (As a child, I went camping every summer.)
Imperfect
-ar verbs |
-er & -ir verbs Example: VIVIR (to live) |
|||
| yo (I) |
-aba | saltaba I jumped/was jumping |
-ía | vivía I lived/was living |
| tú (you) |
-abas | saltabas you jumped/were jumping |
-ías | vivías you lived/were living |
| él, ella (he, she, it) |
-aba | saltaba he jumped/was jumping |
-ía | vivía he lived/was living |
| nosotros/as (we) |
-ábamos | saltábamos we jumped/were jumping |
-íamos | vivíamos we lived/were living |
| vosotros/as (you all) |
-aba | saltabais you all jumped/were jumping |
-íais | vivíais you all lived/were living |
| ellos, ellas (they) |
-aban | saltaban they jumped/were jumping |
-ían | vivían they lived/were living |
The imperfect tense is used...
- To describe habitual or repeated actions in the past.
- Siempre compraba en la misma tienda. (I always went shopping at the same store.)
- Mi abuela me escribía muchas cartas. (My grandmother would write me a lot of letters.)
- To describe a condition or state of being in the past.
- Estaba contenta. (She was happy.)
- Había dos edificios aquí. (There used to be two buildings here.)
- To describe an action that occurred over an unspecified time.
- Hablámos por teléfono. (We were talking on the phone.)
- Pasaba al perro. (He was walking the dog.)
- To indicate time or age in the past.
- Tenía 18 años. (She was 18 years old)
- Eran las ocho y media de la mañana. (It was 8:30 in the morning)
- To describe a person or place
- Tenía el pelo largo y los ojos azules. (She had long hair y blue eyes.)
