{"id":13,"date":"2007-12-09T21:54:31","date_gmt":"2007-12-10T01:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=13"},"modified":"2014-07-11T09:57:02","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T13:57:02","slug":"the-preterite-and-the-imperfect-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/the-preterite-and-the-imperfect-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Preterite and the Imperfect: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Ah, the dreaded past tense.Once the Spanish learner comes to terms with <i>ser <\/i>and <i>estar<\/i>, they are thrown the curve ball of preterite and imperfect.Here is a quick review of the main uses of each.However, keep in mind that as with any grammar \u201crule\u201d there are exceptions!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\n<p class=\"p3\">The <b>preterite<\/b> is used when talking about:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Events that have been completed in the past.<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Compr\u00e9 unos pantalones en el centro commercial ayer.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>A series of events.<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Vine, vi, conquist\u00e9.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Actions repeated a specific number of times.<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Habl\u00e9 con \u00e9l tres veces.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Actions occurring for a specific period of time.<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Escuch\u00e9 m\u00fasica durante media hora.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">The <b>imperfect <\/b>is used when talking about:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Habitual actions in the past (as in the English \u201cused to\u201d)<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">De ni\u00f1o, yo jugaba con mis amigos despu\u00e9s de la escuela.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Describing or setting up a scene<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">La habitaci\u00f3n era oscura. El viento soplaba, y las hojas del \u00e1rbol pegaban contra la ventana.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Characteristics of someone or something.<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">El hombre era alto, guapo, y amable.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>The time and weather<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Eran las ocho de la noche y hac\u00eda mucho viento.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Age<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Yo ten\u00eda siete a\u00f1os cuando naci<b>\u00f3<\/b> mi hermanito.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mental states and physical sensations<\/td>\n<td style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Estaba enojada y ten\u00eda fr\u00edo.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">\n<p class=\"p5\">One of the best ways to recognize when to use the preterite or the imperfect is to tune in to key words, or what I call \u201cred flag words\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">\n<p class=\"p5\">Words referring to specific, completed time periods indicate that the <b>preterite<\/b> should be used:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>ayer\/anteayer\/anoche<\/b> \u2013 yesterday\/the day before yesterday\/last night<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>el a\u00f1o\/mes\/semana pasado(a) <\/b>\u2013 last year\/month\/week<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>por&#8230;.segundos\/minutos\/horas\/d\u00edas<\/b> \u2013 for \u2026..seconds\/minutes\/hours\/days<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>hace \u2026.a\u00f1os\/meses\/d\u00edas<\/b>&#8212; \u2026. years\/months\/days ago<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">\n<p class=\"p5\">Words that refer to vague, unspecific time or repetition indicate the <b>imperfect <\/b>should be used:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>todos los d\u00edas<\/b> \u2013 every day<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>cada a\u00f1o\/mes\/viernes<\/b> \u2013 every year\/month\/Friday<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>siempre<\/b> \u2013 always<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>generalmente<\/b>\u2013 generally, usually<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>frecuentemente<\/b>\u2013 frequently<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><b>en aquella \u00e9poca<\/b> \u2013 at that time, in those days<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ah, the dreaded past tense.Once the Spanish learner comes to terms with ser and estar, they are thrown the curve ball of preterite and imperfect.Here is a quick review of the main uses of each.However, keep in mind that as with any grammar \u201crule\u201d there are exceptions! The preterite is used when talking about&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/the-preterite-and-the-imperfect-part-1\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11892,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/11892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}