{"id":5867,"date":"2012-11-06T04:06:42","date_gmt":"2012-11-06T09:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=5867"},"modified":"2012-11-06T04:06:42","modified_gmt":"2012-11-06T09:06:42","slug":"beginner-spanish-lesson-42-comparing-preterito-indefinido-and-preterito-imperfecto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/beginner-spanish-lesson-42-comparing-preterito-indefinido-and-preterito-imperfecto\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginner Spanish Lesson 42 Comparing Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido and Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beginner Spanish Lesson 42 Comparing Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido and Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AVuWleZji5c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this Beginner Spanish lesson we will compare the Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido and Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto Spanish grammar tenses.<\/p>\n<p>Both of these Spanish grammar tenses are used to talk about the past, but they are quite different and it is vital to be absolutely clear on when you should use one or the other.<\/p>\n<p>The Spanish equivalent of the English Past Simple has two distinct grammar tenses, Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido and Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto, which are used for different descriptions in the past and their verbs are conjugated in different ways. In English the Past Simple grammar tense is more straightforward as there is only one Past Simple and the majority of its verbs are conjugated simply with the addition of -ed (for example: \u201cLast year I worked-ed as a chef\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>In this course we have already looked in detail at how to construct and use both the Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido and Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto Spanish grammar tenses and now we will compare the differences between the two tenses to hopefully give you a clearer idea of when to use one or the other.<\/p>\n<p>First, let\u2019s see the uses of Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto:<\/p>\n<p>For habitual actions in the past:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Cuando \u00e9ramos peque\u00f1os estudi\u00e1bamos en ese colegio: When we were little we studied in that school.<br \/>\n\u2022 Antes escuchaba la radio todos los d\u00edas: Before, I used to listen to the radio every day<br \/>\n\u2022 Cuando viv\u00eda con mis padres no ten\u00eda responsabilidades: When I lived with my parents I didn\u00b4t have responsibilities.<br \/>\n\u2022 Mis amigos iban al cine todas las tardes, pero yo ten\u00eda que estudiar: My friends used to go to the movies every afternoon, but I had to study.<\/p>\n<p>For descriptions of the past:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Mi profesor era simp\u00e1tico e inteligente: My teacher was friendly and intelligent.<br \/>\n\u2022 Mi abuelo era muy alto y fumaba mucho: My grandad was very tall and he used to smoke a lot.<br \/>\n\u2022 Mi pueblo antes era muy peque\u00f1o y no ten\u00eda colegio ni centro de salud: My town used to be very small and it didn\u00b4t have either a school or a health centre.<br \/>\n\u2022 Has cambiado mucho, antes eras m\u00e1s divertido y parec\u00edas m\u00e1s feliz: You have changed a lot, you used to be more fun and you seemed happier.<\/p>\n<p>For actions happening in the past:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Mientras todos hablaban, Juan miraba por la ventana: While everyone was talking, Juan was looking out the window<br \/>\n\u2022 Antes siempre hac\u00eda los deberes cuando ve\u00eda la televisi\u00f3n: Before I used to do my homework when I was watching TV.<br \/>\n\u2022 Ana siempre pensaba en otra cosa cuando hablaba conmigo: Ana was always thinking about something else when she was speaking to me.<br \/>\n\u2022 Carlos estaba fumando cuando conduc\u00eda: Carlos was smoking when he was driving.<\/p>\n<p>Next let\u2019s see the uses of Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido:<\/p>\n<p>Specific unique or repeated actions:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 \u00bfQu\u00e9 hiciste en Semana Santa?: What did you do at Easter?<br \/>\n\u2022 Fuimos a Par\u00eds, \u00bfy vosotros?: We went to Paris, and you?<br \/>\n\u2022 Ayer compramos un coche nuevo: Yesterday we bought a new car.<br \/>\n\u2022 Hace dos d\u00edas mis padres vinieron a visitarme: Two days ago my parents came to visit me.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, let\u2019s look at Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido and Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto being used together in the same sentence. Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido expresses the main action and Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto describes the reason or circumstances in which the main action happens.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Cuando ten\u00eda 18 a\u00f1os comenz\u00f3 a estudiar en la univesidad: When he was 18, he started to study at university<br \/>\n\u2022 Mientras dorm\u00eda, alguien entr\u00f3 a mi casa: While I was sleeping, someone came into my house.<br \/>\n\u2022 Cuando me estaba duchando, alguien llam\u00f3 a la puerta: When I was having a shower, someone knocked on the door<br \/>\n\u2022 Cuando iba al parque me encontr\u00e9 con Pablo: When I was going to the park I saw Pablo.<\/p>\n<p>As I said in the previous beginner Spanish lesson, try not to get flustered by all of the grammar terminology you are being bombarded with: Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido, Pret\u00e9rito Perfecto, Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto, etc. For many students the titles make things sound more complicated than they actually are and this can scare some students off.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, when you strip Spanish grammar back to its basics and concentrate on the bare bones of each of the Spanish tenses they really are not so difficult. Always try to concentrate on being totally clear on when you should use one of the Spanish grammar tenses over another and how you should conjugate the verbs in that tense for all the persons.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy your Spanish studies and see you next time with another beginner Spanish lesson.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a1Adios!<\/p>\n<p>I hope you are enjoying my weekly Spanish lessons. Follow this link for many more great resources to help you <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.transparent.com\/learn-spanish\/\" target=\"_blank\">learn to speak Spanish<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this Beginner Spanish lesson we will compare the Pret\u00e9rito Indefinido and Pret\u00e9rito Imperfecto Spanish grammar tenses. Both of these Spanish grammar tenses are used to talk about the past, but they are quite different and it is vital to be absolutely clear on when you should use one or the other. The Spanish equivalent&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/beginner-spanish-lesson-42-comparing-preterito-indefinido-and-preterito-imperfecto\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[61202,6,13,2617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5867","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-learning-2","category-grammar","category-vocabulary","category-videos"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867","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\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5867"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5906,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867\/revisions\/5906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}