4.3: Preterite vs. Imperfect (Review)

Pretérito vs. imperfecto (repaso)

The preterite and imperfect are two indicative tenses used to refer to the past. The choice between these two tenses depends on the context and they are not interchangable. This page starts with a review of the uses of the preterite and the imperfect, followed by a review of their conjugations.

Pretérito

The preterite is used when the context gives specific information of when or how the action took placed. Moreover, the preterite is used in closing statements, conclusions, or opinions about a past event.

Usos y ejemplos del pretérito

Use the preterite to:

Uses and Examples of the Preterite

Usos	Ejemplos
Refer to an action that happened once.	El sábado fui a un festival de arte. (On Saturday I went to an art festival.)
Refer to an action that starts, ends, or happens at a specific time.	La película empezó a las 5:00 de la tarde en punto. (The movie started at 5:00pm sharp.) La celebración terminó a la medianoche. (The celebration ended at midnight.) La exposición de arte fue a las 3:00 de la tarde. (The art exhibition was at 3:00pm.)
Refer to an action that was completed over a specific period of time.	Tomé una clase de dibujo el verano pasado. (I took a drawing class last summer.)
Refer to an action for which the duration is known and indicated in the context.  Use "por + lenght of time" to indicate duration.	El profesor habló por dos horas consecutivas. (The professor talked for two consecutive hours.)
Indicate the beginning of an emotion using reflexive verbs. Only emotions that can be used as verbs are conjugated in preterite. If the emotion is expressed as an adjective, use the imperfect instead.	Mis padres se alegraron cuando vieron mi obra maestra por primera vez. (My parents got happy when they saw my master piece for the first time.) Me enojé porque no me llamaste. (I got mad because you did not call me.)
Draw a conclusion about a past event.	Me gustó mucho la película. ¡El final fue increíble! (I liked the movie a lot. The ending was incredible!) La comida estuvo deliciosa. (The food was delicious.)

Práctica 1

Imperfecto

The imperfect is used in a more general context for actions that used to happen in the past, actions that were happening, or to give details to a story.

Usos y ejemplos del imperfecto

Use the imperfect to:

Uses and Examples of the Imperfect

Usos	Ejemplos
Refer to habitual actions from the past, actions that "used to" happen frequently.	Cuando era adolescente, iba a conciertos de rock con frecuencia. (When I was a teenager, I used to go to rock concerts frequently.)
Refer to actions that "were happening" in the past progressive (estar + -ando/-iendo) or by conjugating the main verb in imperfect tense. If using the past progressive form, the verb "estar" must be conjugated in imperfect.	Ayer Juan estaba cantando y bailando porque estaba muy contento (Yesterday Juan was singing and dancing because he was very happy.) Ayer Juan cantaba y bailaba porque estaba muy contento. (Yesterday Juan was singing and dancing because he was very happy.)
Give details to a story. Use the imperfect in any verb that gives details but does not refer to an action: description, era or time period, time, age, weather expressions, emotions, health, mental state.	Description: Rosa era una niña muy bonita y talentosa. (Rosa was a pretty and talented girl.) / En su ciudad había muchos artistas. (In her city there were many artists.) Era or time period: Cuando Pedro era niño, no existía la televisión. (When Pedro was a kid, TV did not exist.) Time: Eran las 10:00 de la mañana y todavía estaba dormido. (It was 10:00am and he was still sleeping.) Age: Cuando ella tenía 15 años, sus padres le hicieron una fiesta muy grande. Weather expression: Estaba muy nublado, pero no estaba lloviendo. (It was very cloudy, but it was not raining.) Estaba muy nublado, pero no llovía. (It was very cloudy, but it was not raining.) Health: Mi hijo tenía mucha fiebre y le dolía la cabeza. (My son had a high fever and a headache.) State of mind (including emotions): Mis padres estaban alegres porque mi exposición de arte fue un éxito. (My parents were happy because my art exhibit was successful.) / Yo estaba enojada porque no me llamaste. (I was mad because you did not call me.) Note that in the last two examples emotions are expressed in adjective form, "alegres" and "enojada", using "estar" as the verb of the sentences. In this case, the imperfect tense is used because emotions are a description, not an action.

Práctica 2

Pretérito e imperfecto en la misma oración

Preterite and imperfect are normally used together in daily conversations and in writing. They even appear in the same sentence to conceive different ideas. For example, if someone wants to describe the weather at the moment of their arrival, they would use the imperfect to describe the weather, but the verb used to tell that the person "arrived" must be in preterite tense since it only happened once. Use the rules above to determine the appropriate tense needed in your sentences.

Usos y ejemplos del pretérito y el imperfecto juntos

Examples: Preterite and Imperfect in the Same Sentence

Ejemplos	Explicaciones
La banda estaba tocando y de repente el promotor apagó las luces del auditorio. (The band was playing and suddenly the promoter turned off the lights in the auditorium.)	The action in preterite, "apagó", interrupts the ongoing action "estaba tocando" expressed in the past progressive.
Llovía mucho cuando mi padre entró todo mojado a la galería. (It was raining a lot when my father entered the gallery all wet.)	The weather is expressed in imperfect tense, "llovía", but the action that happened while it was raining is in preterite, "entró".
Cuando yo era adolescente, fui a un festival de arte en España. (When I was a teenager, I went to an art festival in Spain.)	The verb "era" is used to give the period of time when the action "fui" happened. The period of time is in imperfect, but the action only happened once, thus, the preterite was used.
Eran las 8:00 de la mañana cuando empezó la obra de teatro. (It was 8:00am when the play began.)	Provide the time in the imperfect, "eran", but if an action happens at a specific time, conjugate the verb referring to such action must be conjugated in preterite, "empezó".

Práctica 3

Usos del pretérito y el imperfecto en estructuras similares

Sometimes the preterite or the imperfect may be used correctly in the same sentence structure, but within different context. The meaning in which each tense is used will be different. Most of the times, a sentence using the preterite will give specific details as of when or how the action happened.

Examples of Preterite and Imperfect in Similar Structures

Pretérito	Imperfecto
La chica estuvo llorando por dos horas porque perdió su muñeca. / La chica lloró por dos horas porque perdió su muñeca. (The girl was crying for two hours because she lost her doll. / The girl cried for two hours because she lost her doll.) Since the action lasted two hours, the preterite must be used even if using the past progressive.	La chica estaba llorando porque perdió su muñeca. / La chica lloraba porque perdió su muñeca. (The girl was crying because she lost her doll.) The imperfect is used to "estaba llorando" or "lloraba" to refer to an ongoing action with no specific beginning, end, or duration.
Jorge vivió en Argentina por 15 años. (Jorge lived in Argentina for 15 years.)  Use the preterite to express for how long Jorge lived in Argentina.	Jorge vivía en Argentina. (Jorge lived in Argentina.) Use the imperfect because there are no details on when or for how long Jorge lived in Argentina.
Mis padres me llevaron a comer a Pizza Hut dos veces durante mi infancia. (My parents took me out to Pizza Hut twice during my childhood.) In this example, we know exactly how many times the action happened, thus, the preterite must be used.	Mis padres me llevaban a comer a Pizza Hut todos los sábados durante mi infancia. (My parents took me out to Pizza Hut every Saturday during my childhood.) This is an habitual event that used to happen in my childhood. Even though it states that this used to happened on Saturdays, the context does not tell us how many times it happened.

Práctica 4

Repaso de conjugaciones: pretérito

All regular verbs conjugations have a set of endings depending on their infinitive ending. All conjugations of "yo" and "usted/él/ella" need an accent mark on the last vowel. 

Preterite Conjugations: Regular Verbs

Infinitivo	Yo	Tú	Usted/él/ella	Nosotros	Vosotros	Ustedes/ellos
cantar	canté	cantaste	cantó	cantamos	cantasteis	cantaron
volver	volví	volviste	volvió	volvimos	volvisteis	volvieron
escribir	escribí	escribiste	escribió	escribimos	escribisteis	escribieron

Note that verbs that are stem-changing in the present tense, as "volver", have a regular conjugation in the preterite if the infinitive ending is "-ar" or "-er". However, stem-changing verbs ending in "-ir" require a stem-change in the conjugations of "usted/él/ella" and "ustedes/ellos" in the preterite. The conjugated endings are the same used with regular verbs; thus, the conjugation of "yo" and "usted/él/ella" require an accent mark on the last vowel.

Preterite Conjugations: Stem-Changing Verbs "-ir" Endings

Infinitivo	Yo	Tú	Usted/él/ella	Nosotros	Vosotros	Ustedes/ellos
pedir	pedí	pediste	pidió	pedimos	pedisteis	pidieron
preferir	preferí	preferiste	prefirió	preferimos	preferisteis	prefirieron
dormir	dormí	dormiste	durmió	dormimos	dormisteis	durmieron

In the preterite, verbs only change from "e" to "i" and from "o" to "u". For example, "preferir" changes the stem to "prefir-" in the conjugations of "usted/él/ella" and "ustedes/ellos", even when in the present tense the stem changes from "e" to "ie". The verb "dormir" changes to "durm-" even when in the present the change requires a "-ue". The verb "pedir" changes from "e" to "i" in both tenses.

Regular verbs that end in "-er" and "-ir" and whose stem end in a vowel, need a spelling change in the conjugations of "usted/él/ella" and "ustedes/ellos". Change the "i" of their conjugated endings to "y". Moreover, all other conjugations need an added accent mark on the "-i-" of the conjugated ending.

Conjugations with Spelling Changes in Preterite: i to y

Infinitivo	Raíz	Yo	Tú	Usted/él/ella	Nosotros	Vosotros	Ustedes/ellos
creer	cre-	creí	creíste	creyó	creímos	creísteis	creyeron
leer	le-	leí	leíste	leyó	leímos	leísteis	leyeron
oír	o-	oí	oíste	oyó	oímos	oísteis	oyeron

All irregular verbs in the preterite share the same conjugated endings: -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. These endings are used regardless of their infinitive ending and none of them requires an accent mark. Apart from the special endings, most irregular verbs need a new stem (raíz nueva) in their conjugated version. Memorize the new stem for each of the verbs below, and add the irregular endings to conjugate in preterite tense.

Preterite Conjugations: Irregular Verbs

Infinitivo	Raíz nueva	Yo	Tú	Usted/él/ella	Nosotros	Vosotros	Ustedes/ellos
estar	estuv-	estuve	estuviste	estuvo	estuvimos	estuvisteis	estuvieron
poder	pud-	pude	pudiste	pudo	pudimos	pudisteis	pudieron
poner	pus-	puse	pusiste	puso	pusimos	pusisteis	pusieron
saber	sup-	supe	supiste	supo	supimos	supisteis	supieron
tener	tuv-	tuve	tuviste	tuvo	tuvimos	tuvisteis	tuvieron
hacer	hic-	hice	hiciste	hizo*	hicimos	hicisteis	hicieron
querer	quis-	quise	quisiste	quiso	quisimos	quisisteis	quisieron
venir	vin-	vine	viniste	vino	vinimos	vinisteis	vinieron
conducir	conduj-	conduje	condujiste	condujo	condujimos	condujisteis	condujeron**
decir	dij-	dije	dijiste	dijo	dijimos	dijisteis	dijeron**
traducir	traduj-	traduje	tradujiste	tradujo	tradujimos	tradujisteis	tradujeron**
traer	traj-	traje	trajiste	trajo	trajimos	trajisteis	trajeron**

*The conjugation of "hacer" for "usted/él/ella" needs a spelling change to be consistent with the pronunciation of the other conjugations. Change "c" to "z".

**Verbs with a "j" in the new stem, do not have an "i" in the conjugation ending for "ustedes/ellos". Use "-eron" instead of "-ieron".

Verbs "dar", "ver", "ser", and "ir" are also considered irregular verbs, but they do not share the endings of the other irregular verbs. None of their conjugations need an accent mark.

Preterite Conjugation: Other Irregular Verbs

Infinitivo	Yo	Tú	Usted/él/ella	Nosotros	Vosotros	Ustedes/ellos
dar	di	diste	dio	dimos	disteis	dieron
ver	vi	viste	vio	vimos	visteis	vieron
ser	fui	fuiste	fue	fuimos	fuisteis	fueron
ir	fui	fuiste	fue	fuimos	fuisteis	fueron

 

Repaso de conjugaciones: imperfecto

Most verbs in the imperfect tense have regular conjugations. All regular verbs ending in "-ar" will have "-aba" in their conjugated ending. Verbs ending in "-er" and "-ir" have an "-ía", with an accent mark, in their conjugated ending. All verb conjugations in the "nosotros" form, regular and irregular, need an accent mark.

Imperfect Conjugations: Regular Verbs

Infinitivo	Yo	Tú	Usted/él/ella	Nosotros	Vosotros	Ustedes/ellos
hablar	hablaba	hablabas	hablaba	hablábamos	hablabais	hablaban
comer	comía	comías	comía	comíamos	comíais	comían
escribir	escribía	escribías	escribía	escribíamos	escribíais	escribían

There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect tense: ir, ser, and ver.

Imperfect Conjugations: Irregular Verbs

Infinitivo	Yo	Tú	Usted/él/ella	Nosotros	Vosotros	Ustedes/ellos
ir	iba	ibas	iba	íbamos	ibais	iban
ser	era	eras	era	éramos	erais	eran
ver	veía	veías	veía	veíamos	veíais	veían