Pretérito vs. Imperfecto, Part 1

Watch the video lesson. Be prepared to take notes. You can pause this video lesson at any time. It is very important for you to understand the conjugation of these two verb tenses and most importantly when to use each one.

Differentiating the Past Tenses

As the video lesson explained, this pair of tenses is often used to talk about an ongoing action or event that was interrupted in the past. In such case, the uninterrupted action is given in the imperfect tense, while the interrupting action is given in the preterit. For example:

Caminaba por el centro cuando me encontré con la prima de mi mejor amiga.
- I was walking downtown when I ran into my best friends cousin.
La profesora hablaba del examen cuando llegué a clase.
- The teacher was talking about the test when I got to class.

Regular Preterit Verb Endings

**Regular Preterit Endings**
Subject	-ar verbs	-er and -ir verbs
yo	-é	-í
tú	-aste	-iste
él, ella, usted	-ó	-ió
nosotros/nosotras	-amos	-imos
vosotros/vosotras	-asteis	-isteis
ellos, ellas, ustedes	-aron	-ieron

Regular Imperfect Verb Endings

**Regular Imperfect Endings**
Subject	-ar verbs	-er and -ir verbs
yo	-aba	-ía
tú	-abas	-ías
él, ella, usted	-aba	-ía
nosotros/nosotras	-ábamos	-íamos
vosotros/vosotras	-abais	-íais
ellos, ellas, ustedes	-aban	-ían

Irregular Verb Forms - Preterit and Imperfect

There are four major verbs that have irregular forms in the preterit and three that have irregular forms in the imperfect:

Preterit: ser, ir, ver, dar
Imperfect: ser, ir, ver

**Irregular Verb Forms**
Irregular Verb	Preterit	Imperfect
ser - to be	fui fuiste fue fuimos fuisteis fueron	era eras era éramos erais eran
ir - to go	fui fuiste fue fuimos fuisteis fueron	iba ibas iba íbamos ibais iban
ver - to see	vi viste vio vimos visteis vieron	veía veías veía veíamos veíais veían
dar - to give	di diste dio dimos disteis dieron	REGULAR FORMS (daba, dabas, etc.)

Using Phrases to Recognize Preterit vs. Imperfect

There are certain phrases that can make clear which past tense should be used. Use the following lists as a starting point to help in seeing the difference between the two. First up: preterit.

**Useful Phrases That Trigger the Preterit**
Spanish: English	Spanish: English
una vez: one time ayer: yesterday anteayer: the day before yesterday ayer por la mañana: yesterday morning anoche: last night esta mañana: this morning la semana pasada: last week el año pasado: last year ayer por la tarde: yesterday afternoon hace (dos) años: (two) years ago el (lunes) pasado: last (Monday) durante (tres) siglos: for (three) centuries	el otro día: the other day entonces: then anteanoche: the night before last ayer al mediodía: yesterday at noon ayer por la noche: last night esta tarde: this afternoon el mes pasado: last month en ese momento: at that moment hoy por la mañana: this morning hace (dos) días: (two) days ago la semana pasada: last week desde el primer momento: from the first moment

And now, the imperfect:

**Useful Phrases That Trigger the Imperfect**
Spanish: English	Spanish: English
a menudo: often rara vez: rarely generalmente: usually algunas veces: at times tantas veces: so many times cada día: every day todas las semanas: every week con frecuencia: frequently mucho: a lot por lo general: generally de vez en cuando: once in a while en aquella época: at that time	frecuentemente: frequently a veces: sometimes siempre: always mientras: while todos los años: every year muchas veces: many times todo el tiempo: all the time casi nunca: almost never nunca: never todos los días: every day por un rato: for a while varias veces: several times

Practice Activity

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