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The preterite and the imperfect
contrasted
Spanish uses two indicative tenses to refer to the past: the preterite and the imperfect. The two tenses are not interchangeable without altering the meaning of the sentences, and each one possesses its own well-defined logic. At their most basic level, the preterite tells what happened, and the imperfect describes how things were.
The preterite tense is often referred
to as the narrative past. It reports discrete, completed past
actions, which may have occurred once or many times and may have had
infinitely short or unimaginably long duration. The preterite is
often, but not always, associated with key words such as ayer,
anteayer, el año pasado, de repente, comenzar, empezar,
and iniciar, among others.
- Tuvimos una fiesta ayer. (We had a party yesterday.)
- Cumplí veintiún años. (I turned twenty-one years old.)
- Estuve en la esquina por dos horas. (I was on the corner for two hours.)
- La película duró tres horas. (The film lasted three hours.)
- De repente sonó el despertador. (All
of a sudden the alarm clock went off.)
Where the preterite tense is often referred to as the narrative
past, the imperfect tense is often called
the descriptive past. Its focus is on less discrete units of
activity. Rather, the imperfect reports past repeated actions or
things that "used to" happen, and it describes activities and
conditions amid the passage of time. The imperfect is often, but not
always, associated with key words such as siempre, mucho, a
menudo, frequentemente, a veces, and soler.
- Solíamos ir a la playa todos los veranos. (We were accustomed to going to the beach each summer.)
- Estudiaba mucho con mi compañero de cuarto. (I used to study a lot with my roommate.)
- Siempre tenía mucho que hacer los fines de semana. (I always had a lot to do on the weekends.)
- De niño me gustaba leer mucho. (As a child I liked to read a lot.)
- Eran las diez de la noche. (It was ten o'clock at night.)
- Era una noche oscura. (It was a dark
night.)
The preterite and the imperfect used together
The two past tenses often occur within the same sentence. When this happens something that is unfolding in time is punctuated by the occurence of some other action. That is, a contextual situation is interrupted by a discrete action. Note the following illustration:
- Todo estaba tranquilo cuando de repente oí el primer trueno. (Everything was quiet when all of a sudden I heard the first thunderclap.)
- El senador dijo que quería reformar la
ley. (The senator said that he wanted to reform the
law.)
Several verbs in Spanish when expressed in one past tense change
their meaning noticeably when expressed in the other. It should be
mentioned, however, that the careful user will notice that these
"special meanings" are not inconsistent with the general guidelines
on this and other pages for the use of the preterite
and the imperfect. They are noted here
simply because they are commonly used verbs and because they provide
convenient pairs for comparison purposes.
- Conocer
- La conoció ayer. [He met (came to know) her yesterday.]
- Ya la conocía. [I already knew
(continuous) her.]
- Poder
- No pudimos aterrizar. [We failed to (were unable to and did not) land.]
- No podíamos ir de vacaciones.
[We were unable to (continuous) take a
vacation.]
- Querer
- Quise dormirme la siesta. [I wanted to (tried to but did not) take a nap.]
- Quería llamarte. [I
wanted (focus on the desire, not the attempt) to call
you.]
- Saber
- Supe que estaba de vuelta. [I discovered (suddenly came to know) that he was back.]
- Sabía que estaba de vuelta. [I
knew (was aware) that he was back.]
Related topics:
Preterite tense
Imperfect tense
Verbs
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