Spanish verbs: imperfect or preterite? Which tense do I use? – Episode 59

Spanish verbs: imperfect or preterite? Which tense do I use?

Podcast episode 59 – SEE ALL EPISODES

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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Today I bring you a very practical verb lesson.

See also: Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses.

A few days ago, one of my subscribers asked me this great question:

What’s the difference between the imperfect and the preterite? I’m not sure when to use these two tenses. Can you explain the difference between them?

As you may have discovered by now, one of the main difficulties with the Spanish tenses is knowing when to use the imperfect and the preterite.

These two tenses both refer to actions that took place in the past.

In English, they’re often translated with the simple past. Here are two examples:

Tenía una casa. – I had a house.

Tuve la gripe. – I had the flu.

Let’s hear these two examples again.

When it comes to building sentences like this, the big question is:

How do you decide whether to use the preterite or the imperfect?

I’m going to give you a rule that’s going to help you use the right tense time after time.

This is the rule you need to remember:

When choosing between the preterite and the imperfect, ask yourself these two questions:

Question 1 is: Can I put a date or time on the action I’m talking about?

And question 2 is: Was that action finished in the past?

If the answer to both questions is YES, you use the preterite.

If the answer to either question, or both, is NO, you use the imperfect.

Let me say the two questions again:

Question 1 : Can I put a date or time on the action I’m talking about?

And question 2: Was that action finished in the past?

Let’s see an example:

El lunes volvimos en tren. – On Monday we came back by train.

In this case, we can put a date to that action: el lunes – on Monday.

And that action was finished in the past. We finished our returning.

Therefore, we use the preterite.

El lunes volvimos en tren. – On Monday we came back by train.

Let’s see another example:

Los lunes volvíamos en tren. – On Mondays we came back by train.

In this case, the date is vague. Which Mondays are we talking about? It’s unclear. Therefore, we need to use the imperfect.

Let’s hear the example again. Notice the verb form ‘volvíamos’:

Los lunes volvíamos en tren. – On Mondays we came back by train.

To help you understand better the difference between the preterite and the imperfect, let’s compare these two sentences.

Sentence 1 is the one you’ve just heard with the imperfect:

Los lunes volvíamos en tren. – On Mondays we came back by train.

And sentence 2 is very similar, but it uses the preterite:

Todos los lunes del año pasado volvimos en tren. – Every Monday of last year we came back by train.

As we’ve seen, in sentence 1 the date is vague. It’s unclear which Mondays we’re talking about.

That’s why we’ve used the imperfect: Los lunes volvíamos en tren.

In the second sentence:

Todos los lunes del año pasado volvimos en tren. – Every Monday of last year we came back by train.

We can give a date to every occasion when that action occurred:

todos los lunes del año pasado – every Monday of last year

And every time that action took place, it was completed in the past. Every Monday of last year, we finished our returning.

Therefore, we use the preterite.

Like most Spanish grammar rules, this tense rule has some exceptions. But, in the majority of cases, it’s going to be of great help.

Let’s recap the rule I’ve given you in this lesson.

When choosing between the preterite and the imperfect, ask yourself these two questions:

Question 1 is: Can I put a date or time on the action I’m talking about?

And question 2 is: Was that action finished in the past?

If the answer to both questions is YES, you use the preterite.

If the answer to either question, or both, is NO, you use the imperfect.

When do you use the imperfect and preterite in the same sentence? Are there any rules for this?

It’s true you often come across Spanish sentences where both the preterite and imperfect tenses are used.

In those cases, the imperfect describes an action that’s taking place in the background.

And the preterite refers to an action that takes place for a shorter period, while the background action goes on.

Let’s see this with an example:

Llamaron cuando estábamos fuera. – They called when we were out.

Here, the background action is expressed by:

cuando estábamos fuera – when we were out

And, while that background action goes on, something happens for a shorter period:

llamaron – they called

Remember the rule I gave you a minute ago.

LLAMARON, a preterite form, is an action we can put a time to. And it’s finished in the past.

That’s why it’s in the preterite.

On the other hand:

cuando estábamos fuera – when we were out

describes an action unfinished in the past. Therefore, it uses the imperfect.

Let’s hear the whole sentence once more. Notice the two tenses:

Llamaron cuando estábamos fuera. – They called when we were out.

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