So, we just finish eating dinner and some one asks me if I liked the food. I want to say "Yes it was very good". First, do I use ser or estar? Second, do I use preterite or imperfect? Why for both?
My hunch is "si, era muy buena" could someone tell me if this is right or wrong, and if so why and what is the correct way to say it?
Thanks in advance.
Are there any instances when these two tenses can be interchanged without changing the meaning? What about the more grey areas with these tenses? I was watching a show in Spanish and had the subtitles on and the man said “eso no era tan difícil” and the subtitles said “eso no fue tan difícil” the context being that that man had just agreed to their offer. Are their any situations like this?
I'm not sure how to utilize it correctly, i.e. "You were talking in Spanish"
My friend told me “El no te supo valorar”. Why wouldn’t she use sabia? I thought saber in the preterite sense is “found out” while in the imperfect sense is “knew”. Can someone help me with this?
¡Hola! I am a Spanish student in high school that still has not gotten their head around imperfect and preterite endings. I have tried flashcards, writing sentences with them, posting flashcards with the endings around my room, even watched videos of other people explaining these endings, and I still cannot conjugate without having to look up the endings? Any tips for retaining the endings , and just “knowing how” to conjugate them? ¡Muchas gracias!
The following example from an exercise I was solving confused me:
Un señor que no sabía nadar, casi (blank) cerca de la playa.
I chose ´´se ahogó´´ but when I checked the correct answer was ´´se ahoga´´. I'm confused as to why present was used over preterite. Could both of them be correct? ¡Gracias!
Hi,
I'm doing some spanish lessons on lengalia. And one sentence translated like this
La familia vivía en la Plaza de Riego, número 36.
Why would it not be vivian to show they lived there
Also just any general explanation about the preterite and imperfect would be helpful. I know the preterite is for completed actions and that the imperfect is for the past where you can't necessarily put a number on things---example when i was a child i played sports (that would be the imperfect) but I feel like there are many other situations where i truly don't understand why the imperfect is being used.
All help is appreciated. :)
Hi! I’m currently in an honors Spanish 3 course and we’re learning preterite vs imperfect and when they would be used (as in paragraphs where both forms would show up) but I can’t seem to wrap my head around it; does anyone have any tips or tricks on figuring out if a verb should be in the imperfect or preterite form (or even how I could equate it to English as a native English speaker)? Thank you!
I want to say “he wanted to be a musician” as narration for a story. So would I use “Queriò” or “Quería”?
I was in class and then the teacher was reading an example: cuando leías esta mañana, noté que estabas muy preocupada...now. I do not know why its cuando Leías esta mañana because esta mañana is specific, so I thought it would be leiste. HELP ME.
The words in the parenthesis are supposed to be conjugated in the preterite or imperfect indicative, but I’m having some trouble with them:
Jamás olvidaré el día en que yo (ir) por primera vez a pasar el verano a un pueblo a la orilla del mar. (Tener) yo unos doce años y siempre (desear) estar en una playa durante los meses de calor. Ese verano nosotros (alquilar) una casa en la misma playa por un mes y desde el momento que yo la (ver), (saber) que lo (ir) a pasar muy bien allí. La playa (ser) inmensa. La arena (ser) blanca y las rocas (ofrecer) protección contra en viento y el intenso sol que (brillara) a diario. Como el mar (ser) tranquilo y el agua (estar) templada, nosotros (bañarse) todos los días y, a menudo, nosotros (salir) a pescar y a navegar en el barco de vela que nosotros (tener) a nuestra disposición. De los tres meses que nosotros (estar) allí, solamente un día (hacer) mal tiempo. Aquel día (levantarse) un fuerte viento del este, (llover) mucho y por eso no nos (ser) posible salir en el barco.
Hello.
I´ve been speaking, studying and teaching Spanish now for 7 years however I still struggle to understand why the Preterite form of SER (instead of the Preterite form of ESTAR) is used in combination with the Past Participle to form the Passive Voice.
Surely the Preterite form of ESTAR would be more appropiate?
For example: El doctor FUE ASASINADO hace dos años.
Why is it not: El doctor ESTUVO ASASINADO hace dos años.
Thanks in advance
Getting a bit mixed up, as I'm doing conjugation drills on SpanishDict.
In the drills, I was marked wrong for typing "vos conocisteís" for the preterite form of conocer - and it is saying I should just use "conociste", which to me looks like the tú form. On the other hand, the main page for conjugations on SpanishDict agrees with me.
Is this a mistake, or am I missing something - I'm having a hard time googling it!
Edit: It seems I thought that "vos" and "vosotros" were the same, but they aren't! SpanishDict doesn't seem to list "vos" conjugations - are they identical to tú?
In theory, I get the difference between the preterite and imperfect... broadly speaking, the imperfect is for ongoing actions in the past, or background actions that get interrupted. The preterite is for actions that begin and end at a specific point in time in the past, actions that interrupt the background action taking place in the imperfect. But I feel like I keep running into cases that (to me) seem to have some gray area. This question is about one specific example.
I was watching this video from Español con Juan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnpGNykejMQ
At 4:50 he says: “en la escuela, estudiábamos francés”
At 13:32 he says: “me gustaría saber cómo fue tu experiencia en el colegio ¿Estudiaste otros idiomas?”
To me, these seem like almost identical circumstances... "In school we studied French" vs "How was your experience in school - did you study other languages?" ...but one uses imperfect and the other uses preterite.
I can see an argument for either way... both are talking about a specific period of time in the past that had a beginning and an end. But both are also talking about an ongoing action during that time period. Why does one use imperfect and the other use the preterite? What nuance am I missing here?
I am teaching myself Spanish, and I am not sure if I should use trabajé o trabajaba to describe that I worked this past summer. Would I use trabajaba because it was an ongoing/in process action in the past? I want to say
“This past summer, I worked in a restaurant.”
“El verano pasado, trabajé en un restaurante.”
Or trabajaba?
I'm doing a presentation on artists from Guatemala, and I'm having trouble deciding on the tense I should use. I figured most of it would be imperfect when talking about the style of their art or how they influenced certain styles since that remained consistent for most of their life and then preterite for certain life events (birth, death, etc), but what tense would I use when saying their occupation? I thought it would be "era un pintor, escultora, etc." since that was consistent for most of their life but on all the wikipedias I've looked at, they use "fue" instead of "era." Which tense would be the best to use? Thanks in advance!
Hi everyone! I want to share with you this video. I think its going to help you a lot with Preterite Tense. It includes an explanation and then a conversation, you can pause the video and answer. I hope you like it!
Hello, I once saw a sentence on a Spanish dictionary website that was attempting to teach the imperfect vs the preterite. Sentence example used was:
Nunca me regalaba un obsequio He never gave me gifts
Which they explained that the imperfect here is appropriate because it implies over and over again in the past he never game me a gift.
However I was writing a sentence with the word nunca and the translator defaulted to the preterite. Here is my sentence:
Cuando era pequeña había muchos juegos de mesa pero nunca entendí como jugar ninguno de ellos.
I thought that the translated should have used the word entendía after the word nunca, because my intent has been to say that I never understood how to play the games through out my childhood and possibly till now, which implies the imperfect.
Aside from the fact that robot translators don’t always understand your intent, is any more explanation or clarification someone could provide here about how nunca operates with preterite and imperfect verbs..does the verb become preterite or imperfect based on what your trying to convey or is there a strict delineating rule for when nunca makes a verb preterite vs imperfect?
I had a fill in the blank homework assignment that involved choosing if the verb is preterite or imperfect tense.
One of the sentences was: Al oír su voz, _____ (sentir [yo]) impaciencia, porque _____ (querer) seguir viendo televisión.
For sentir, I put “sentía”. I was taught that the imperfect tense was used when describing the past, including with emotions. But the correct answer was the preterite, “sentí”. I’m confused on why this is.
Also, why wouldn’t sentirse be used in this instance?
Thanks in advance!
I always see learners like myself stressing over it and after conversing with some Spanish speakers, it’s just something that yes, you should learn the biggest differences between them but after that, just use whatever you think is right and don’t stress about it.
I’ve spent the last 2 days trying to get to grips with the differences between using imperfect vs preterite tenses. Just when I think I’ve understood it I look at my assignment and can’t seem to work out which one I need. Please help! (My answers after the infinitive / verb)
____ (ser/ era) el mes de agosto y, como siempre, mi marido y yo ____ (dormir/dormíamos) con las ventanas abiertas porque ____ (hacer/ hacía) mucho calor.
Sobre las 2 de la madrugada ____ (levantarse/ me levanté) para beber agua.
____ (entrar / entraba) en la cocina, ____ (abrir/ abrí) la nevera y ____ (beber/ bebí) agua de la botella.
De pronto, ____ (oír/ oí) un ruido en el salón. ____ (ir/ fui) al salón y allí ____ (ver/ ví) a un hombre que ____ (estar/ estaba) de pie delante del televisor.
Cuando el hombre me ____ (ver/ veía), ____ (saltar/ saltó) por el balcón y ____ (desaparecer/ desapareció).
____ (tener/ tenía) mucho miedo y por eso ahora tenemos aire acondicionado y dormimos con las ventanas cerradas.
What is the difference between these 3 tenses?
Is the preterite simply describing the "past tense" of a completed action? If so, why not just use the perfect tense?
Hi all,
I am currently learning Spanish on Duolingo, and am confused by when to use preterite, and when to use imperfect, e.g.
'A veces los niños jugaban con el maestro' is translated to 'Sometimes the children used to play with the teacher'
Wouldn't it be very similar if we say 'A veces los niños jugaron con el maestro'? Since both 'jugaban' and 'jugaron' seem to refer to past tense.
Please advise. Thanks!
Fue or era?
I understand that in general the imperfect is an ongoing action in the past while preterite is a one time event but hoping someone can help me distinguish when to use which in some specific scenarios.
Describing Your Day Would you use ¿cómo estuvo tu día? or ¿cómo estaba tú día? Or alternatively if ser is supposed to be used for this question instead of estar then would it be fue or era?
Saber/Conocer If I wanted to say “did you know” would I use the preterite or imperfect? Does it change by what the know refers to?
Example: Did you know (a fact) = supiste or sabías? Did you know (a person) = conociste or conocías?
Pensar Similar to saber/conocer but if I wanted to say I thought, what type of thought would warrant the preterite vs imperfect?
Example: I thought I saw you = pensé (right?) I thought about it for a while = pensía (right?)
Feelings/Moods Would describing this change on the context of the feeling and timeline
Example: I felt bad (single moment in time) = sentí? I felt bad for a while = sentía?
Tener/Other If I wanted to describe having something would it be tuve or tenía?
Example: I had reason to believe = tuve or tenía? I had a car when I was little = tuve or tenía? He was right = tuvo or tenía?
Thanks so much in advance!
French does, in fact have a preterite; for pouvoir, for example it's pus, pus, put, pûmes, pûtes, purent(feel free to correct me, french speakers). Let me back up: A lot of the time, I see french lessons telling you to just use the past participle for a simple past, but why use that when (according to Wikipedia) there is a much-easier-to-use preterite?
I've read that there are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect, but I can't seem to find a definitive list of irregular verbs in the preterite tense. Can you please help?
Hello everyone! I am currently trying to translate a short passage about ancient history which frequently mentions things like "these people made pots from clay" or "this site was occupied for centuries." I am inclined to use the imperfect tense in these cases ("esta gente hacía las ollas de arcilla" or "este sitio estaba ocupado por siglos") but I am not sure if that is correct. When talking about practices/events so far in the past, would the preterite be used instead because these things have definitely come to an end? Advice is much appreciated!
I am doing VERY poorly on my practice homework in my second semester Spanish class. I just can't figure out how to apply preterite vs imperfect. I understand the basic rules, but I am still failing to understand when something is complete or not. Is there a trick I can use? I already tried the YouTube strategy of "did" vs "was doing" but that didn't work for me because it seems like either one could fit most any sentence with very few exceptions.
Am I missing something here?
Also, I did look at past posts on this topic, but none of them made any sense to me. Thank you in advance for your help!
I don’t know how I only just realized this, but now I’m confused. Looking at a chart and for nosotros in the present they have: hablamos, comemos, abrimos. Then for preterite: hablamos, comimos, abrimos. The er verbs are the only ones that change?? How do you know which tense is being used for ar and ir if it doesn’t change?
Hi there guys,
I’m quite new to this forum, but I was wondering if anyone could explain this to me.
Preterite- If there is a time signal at the start of a sentence, for example ayer, la semana pasada...
Imperfect- No time signal or definitive time period in which the action is done, for example a menudo, generalmente, varias veces...
I get the imperfect tense is the descriptive tense, but what does that mean. Also, if I start recalling an event in the past do I use just one tense or in which cases do I use a combination.
Example 1
Solía aprender el francés en la escuela, pero no me gustaba aprenderlo. Esto era porque, lo encontraba muy difícil y aburrido. Pasaba muchas horas leyendo libros y escribiendo las mismas frases para alcanzar mi nivel de francés. Ahora sé que, para mi estos métodos no son los mejores para aprender un idioma. Así que con el español, uso los métodos diferentes en comparación de mi aprendizaje del francés.
Example 2
Los últimos días estaba muy cansado, porque tenía muchas cosas que hacer. Por ejemplo la semana pasada, salí con mis amigos, pinté mi habitación, visité mis abuelos y he tenido que trabajar. Esto es porque en mi trabajo hay muchas personas que son enfermas.
Thank you for the help in advance and I hope I was clear in my post.
I’m doing a presentation tomorrow about my strange semester at college due to covid-19. I want to say that we “had to do” a lot of different things because of the pandemic, like participating in a universal quarantine.
Instinctively, I want to say “teníamos que participar en una cuarentena universal” but grammatically, I think it should actually be “tuvimos que participar en una cuarentena universal”
Can anyone tell me which is correct? And also any tips on understanding imperfect/preterite better? I simply cannot with those tenses.
Muchas gracias mis amigos ❤️
Edit: if it is in fact supposed to be preterite, should the rest of my description of the semester also be in preterite because all of this happened in one event in the past that has ended?
Hi everyone! I want to share with you this video. I think its going to help you a lot with Preterite Tense. It includes an explanation and then a conversation, you can pause the video and answer. I hope you like it!
