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Hola chic@s,
I was recently covering this with a student of mine in one of our sessions.
What’s the difference between the preterite and imperfect tense in Spanish?
This confuses a lot of learners and I sometimes still have to refresh my memory on this.
So let’s cover this today in as simple a way as possible.
We’ll start with the preterite tense, then move onto the imperfect tense before wrapping things up with a side-by-side comparison to hopefully make things crystal clear.
Remember, you can always practice these conjugations for free in the Chat Spanish Verb Lab 🧪
Go crazy.
As always, any questions or support please email me.
Un abrazo,
Harrison
1) The Preterite Tense
The preterite tense is one of the
two simple past tenses in Spanish, alongside the imperfect tense (which we’ll look at next).
You’re going to use the preterite tense to talk about completed actions that happened in the past.
Completion. That’s the word we associate with the preterite tense.
Things that have happened.
Like the present tense, the preterite tense has regular verbs and irregular verbs.
Again, we’ll start with regular verbs, which follow predictable patterns based on their -AR, -IR or -ER endings.
Regular Verb Conjugations in the Preterite Tense
AR Verbs 👉 Drop the -AR and add
-é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron
IR Verbs 👉 Drop the -IR and add
-í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron
ER Verbs 👉 Drop the -ER and add
-í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron
(Yes the endings for -IR and -ER verbs are the same).
Irregular Verb Conjugations in the Preterite Tense
Let’s look at some of the most common irregular verb conjugations now in the preterite tense.
So there are some patterns that we
can remember:
U-stem verbs
tener 👉 tuve
estar 👉 estuve
poder 👉 pude
I-stem verbs
hacer 👉 hice
querer 👉 quise
venir 👉 vine
J-stem verbs
decir 👉 dije
traer 👉 traje
conducir 👉 conduje
Like the present tense, there are
some verbs that are irregular
in the first-person singular ‘yo’ form.
I’ve made the ‘yo’ forms bold to show you the irregular spelling.
‘Qué’ endings
‘Gué’ endings
‘-CÉ’ endings
One beautiful thing about all irregular verbs in the preterite tense is that they never have tildes (accent marks)
on their endings 🙏
The other important thing that stands out about irregular verbs in the preterite tense is that SER and IR
are conjugated the same 👇
Similar to the ‘nosotros’ form in the preterite tense being exactly the same as the present tense, you’ll be able
to distinguish if it’s ‘Ser’ or ‘Ir’ from
the context of the conversation.
Right, let’s look at when you’re going
to use the preterite tense in Spanish with some cracking examples 😘
Remember, the preterite is related
to completion.
Actions that have been completed
in the past.
There are some nuances as we’ll see, but all the examples are tied together by this idea of completion.
Completed Events
Something that happened once
and then was over.
e.j Fui a Nicaragua
I went to Nicaragua
e.j Ayer cocinamos todos juntos
Yesterday we cooked all together
Actions with a clear start and end
There are clear time boundaries involved.
e.j Dormí 9 horas anoche
I slept 9 hours last night
e.j Carmen estudió desde las 4 hasta las 9
Carmen studied from 4 to 9
Sequenced Events
A series of actions that took place
in a sequence.
e.j Me levanté, me duché y desayuné
I woke up, showered and had breakfast
e.j Fuimos al cine y comimos helado
We went to the cinema and ate ice cream
Specific Dates and Times
Past events that took place on a specific date/time or for specific time periods.
e.j Viví en Madrid por seis meses
I lived in Madrid for 6 months
e.j El terremoto ocurrió en 2017
The earthquake happened in 2017
Let’s look at some common phrases that trigger the use of the preterite tense.
This is because they refer to specific points in time when an action was completed:
Ayer - Yesterday
Anoche - Last night
Anteayer - Day before yesterday
La semana pasada - Last week
El año pasado - Last year
Hace dos días - Two days ago
Hace una semana - One week ago
Una vez - One time/Once
Preterite Tense Summary
That’s the preterite tense done and dusted. Let’s look at a few 🔑’s now:
🔑 The preterite tense is all about completion.
🔑 Remember the regular verb endings. For -AR verbs (-é, -aste, -ó, -amos,
-asteis, -aron). For -ER and -IR verbs
(-í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron).
🔑 The nosotros form of the preterite looks the same as the present tense, so we need to understand the context to tell them apart.
🔑 Be aware of the irregular verb forms in the preterite tense and enjoy the fact that they don’t have any tildes (accent marks).
🔑 We can use time markers to trigger the preterite tense. e.g ayer, anoche,
la semana pasada, hace dos días etc…
2) Imperfect Tense
The imperfect tense is the second
of the two simple past tenses
in Spanish, alongside the preterite tense (which we’ve just seen).
The imperfect tense is used for describing ongoing or repeated actions in the past without
a clear end.
That’s why it’s called the imperfect, because it’s incomplete.
As expected, the imperfect tense
has regular verbs and irregular verbs.
Let’s start with the regular verbs.
Regular Verb Conjugations in the Imperfect Tense
(Trying to pronounce ‘hablábamos’
is always fun 😉)
AR Verbs 👉 Drop the -AR and add
-aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais,
-aban
IR Verbs 👉 Drop the -IR and add
-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían
ER Verbs 👉 Drop the -ER and add
-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían
The endings for -IR and -ER verbs
are the same 👍
Remember, subject pronouns are typically left out when speaking Spanish. So you’ll hear ‘hablaba’
and wonder if it’s ‘yo’ or ‘él/ella/usted’.
Again, you’ll have to rely on the context to figure it out.
Irregular Verb Conjugations in the Imperfect Tense
Count your lucky estrellas ⭐️,
the imperfect tense only has
three irregular verb conjugations:
So the imperfect tense is used for describing ongoing or repeated actions in the past without a clear end.
Let’s now look at some examples to understand what this actually means👇
e.j Cuando Juan era niño, jugaba al fútbol en el parque
When Juan was a boy, he used to play football in the park
This is describing an action in the past, without a clear ending - so it’s ongoing.
e.j Hacía calor y el sol brillaba
It was hot and the sun was shining
Again, describing how things were without a definite ending.
Also notice how the imperfect tense can be translated as ‘used’ to
or ‘was’.
Similar to the preterite tense, the imperfect tense has some common phrases that trigger its usage.
This is because they describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past.
A menudo - Often
A veces - Sometimes
Cada día - Everyday
De vez en cuando - Once in a while
Frecuentemente - Frequently
Siempre - Always
Todos los días - Every day
Por un rato - For a while
Imperfect Tense Summary
Let’s look at the 🔑’s to the Imperfect Tense then:
🔑 The Imperfect Tense is used to describe ongoing, repeated or habitual actions in the past without
a clear end.
🔑 The regular verb endings. For -AR verbs (-aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos,
-abais, -aban). For -ER and -IR verbs
(-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían).
🔑 There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect tense. Ir, Ser and Ver.
🔑 Like the preterite, the imperfect tense can also be triggered by certain time markers. e.j a menudo, a veces, cada día, siempre, todos los días, por un rato etc…
3) Preterite Tense vs Imperfect Tense
We’ve just covered both of these simple tenses individually, but I want
to do a side by side comparison because I think it will be helpful
to reinforce the difference.
Preterite 👉 for completed actions in the past.
Ask ‘what happened?’ and you’ll know to use the preterite tense.
Imperfect 👉 for describing ongoing or repeated actions in the past without a clear end.
Ask ‘how things were?’ and you’ll know to use the imperfect tense.
Now let’s look at some side by side ejemplos👇
Preterite
e.j Miguel trabajó en la peluquería
Miguel worked at the hairdressers
A one time action completed in the past.
Imperfect
e.j Miguel trabajaba en la peluquería
Miguel used to work at the hairdressers
Describing a habitual past action.
Preterite + Imperfect
e.j Cocinábamos cuando llegó mi hermano
We were cooking when my brother arrived
It’s not uncommon that you’ll hear both the preterite and imperfect tense in the same sentence.
Often, the imperfect will set the scene (cocinábamos) and the preterite will be the interrupting event (llegó).
Although sometimes you’ll see the preterite come first:
e.j Ayer fui al supermercado, pero no había leche
Yesterday I went to the supermarket, but there was no milk
Another way of remembering if you should use the preterite or imperfect tense is by asking:
“Is this a snapshot or a movie?”
If it’s a snapshot (single completed event) 👉 Preterite Tense
If it’s a movie (continuous action)
👉 Imperfect Tense
I hope these examples have cleared up the differences, this does take some practice getting used to.
So give yourself some grace along
the way.
—
So there we go chic@s.
I hope you found that helpful.
As I said at the beginning, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or just need some support on your Spanish journey.
I’m also currently have a few free spots open for coaching.
You can find out the details here.
Harrison
Spanish for living, not just learning
