Many students have trouble knowing when to use the preterite tense or the imperfect tense, as they both refer to actions in the past. There are several general rules you can follow to know when to use one tense or another. Additionally, many Spanish phrases tend to be used only with the preterite or only with the imperfect, so memorizing them is very helpful! In this article, we’ll take a look at the general uses of both tenses, as well as helpful “trigger” phrases.

Pair Work

One way this pair of tenses is often used is to talk about an ongoing action or event that was interrupted in the past. In such case, the interrupted action is given in the imperfect tense, while the interrupting action is given in the preterite.

For example:

EXAMPLES
Caminaba por el centro cuando me encontré con el hermano de mi mejor amiga. I was walking downtown when I ran into my best friend’s brother.
Lourdes y Marco hablaban del examen cuando llegué a clase. Lourdes and Marco were talking about the test when I got to class.

The Preterite

Generally, the preterite is used for completed actions (actions that have definite beginning and end points.) These can be actions that can be viewed as single events, actions that were part of a chain of events, actions that were repeated a very specific number of times, or actions that specifically state the beginning and end of an action.

Check out these examples:

EXAMPLES
Fui al baile anoche. I went to the dance last night.
Caminé al mercado, compré unos plátanos, y regresé a casa. I walked to the market, bought some bananas, and returned home
Te llamó tres veces. He called you three times.
Hablé con mi madre de las dos hasta las tres. I spoke with my mother from two o’clock until three o’clock.

Useful Phrases that Trigger the Preterite

There are many helpful words and phrases that indicate specific time frames, therefore signaling that the preterite should be used. Here are a few:

SPANISH	ENGLISH	SPANISH	ENGLISH
una vez	one time	el otro día	the other day
ayer	yesterday	entonces	then
anteayer	the day before yesterday	anteanoche	the night before last
ayer por la mañana	yesterday morning	ayer al mediodía	yesterday at noon
anoche	last night	ayer por la noche	last night
esta mañana	this morning	esta tarde	this afternoon
la semana pasada	last week	el mes pasado	last month
el año pasado	last year	en ese momento	at that moment
ayer por la tarde	yesterday afternoon	hoy por la mañana	this morning
hace (dos) años	(two) years ago	hace (dos) días	(two) days ago
el (lunes) pasado	last (Monday)	la semana pasada	last week
durante (tres) siglos	for (three) centuries	desde el primer momento	from the first moment

Verbs that are Preterite by Nature

Some verbs used to talk about events with a very definite beginning and end are almost always used in the preterite. Here are a few examples.

SPANISH	ENGLISH	SPANISH	ENGLISH
casarse	to get married	graduarse	to graduate
cumplir años	to turn a certain age	llegar	to arrive
darse cuenta de	to realize	morir	to die
decidir	to decide	nacer	to be born
descubrir	to discover	salir	to leave

The Imperfect

The imperfect tense is generally used for actions in the past that do not have a definite end. These can be actions that are not yet completed or refer to a time in general in the past. It can also be used to talk about:

actions that were repeated habitually
actions that set the stage for another past tense event
time and dates
a person’s age in the past
characteristics
mental or physical states

Check out these examples:

EXAMPLES
Cuando era niña, jugaba con muñecas. When I was a child, I used to play with dolls.
Los chicos hablaban en español. The boys were speaking in Spanish.
Estaba durmiendo cuando el teléfono sonó. I was sleeping when the telephone rang.
Cuando tenía tres años, era muy pequeño. When he was three years old, he was very small

Useful Phrases that Trigger the Imperfect

Here are some helpful words and phrases that often signal that a verb should be used in the imperfect.

SPANISH	ENGLISH	SPANISH	ENGLISH
a menudo	often	frecuentemente	frequently
rara vez	rarely	a veces	sometimes
generalmente	usually	siempre	always
algunas veces	at times	mientras	while
tantas veces	so many times	todos los años	every year
cada día	every day	muchas veces	many times
todas las semanas	every week	todo el tiempo	all the time
con frecuencia	frequently	casi nunca	almost never
mucho	a lot	nunca	never
por lo general	generally	todos los días	every day
de vez en cuando	once in a while	por un rato	for a while
en aquella época	at that time	varias veces	several times

https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/preterite-vs-imperfect-in-spanish

The Spanish imperfect tense (el pretérito imperfecto o copretérito) is used to describe past habitual actions or to talk about what someone was doing when they were interrupted by something else.

Regular Imperfect Forms

There are only two sets of endings for regular imperfect verbs in Spanish, one for -ar verbs and one for both -er and -ir verbs.

To conjugate a regular verb in the imperfect tense in Spanish, simply remove the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, or -ir) and add the imperfect ending that matches the subject.

Check out the table of regular imperfect endings below.

Regular Imperfect Verb Endings

SUBJECT	-AR VERBS	-ER AND -IR VERBS
yo	-aba	-ía
tú	-abas	-ías
él, ella, usted	-aba	-ía
nosotros	-ábamos	-íamos
vosotros	-abais	-íais
ellos, ellas, ustedes	-aban	-ían

Irregular Imperfect Forms

There are only three verbs with irregular conjugations in the imperfect: ir, ser, and ver. Here they are!

Irregular Imperfect Conjugations

SUBJECT	IR (TO GO)	SER (TO BE)	VER (TO SEE)
yo	iba	era	veía
tú	ibas	eras	veías
él, ella, usted	iba	era	veía
nosotros	íbamos	éramos	veíamos
vosotros	ibais	erais	veíais
ellos, ellas, ustedes	iban	eran	veían

Uses of the Imperfect Tense

In general, the imperfect is used to talk about past actions, conditions, or events that occurred habitually or repeatedly or that were in progress at a point in the past. It is also used to tell time, talk about dates, give a person’s age, and describe characteristics, conditions, and feelings in the past. Read on for more about these uses of the imperfect.

1. Habitual or Repeated Actions

Habitual or repeated actions are those that were done over and over in the past. These are often things a person used to or would do.

EXAMPLES
Almorzábamos cada día. We used to eat lunch together every day.
Todos los sábados las mujeres iban de compras. Every Saturday the ladies would go shopping.

2. Actions that Were in Progress in the Past

It’s quite common to see the imperfect used to talk about something that was happening when something else occurred. It’s also used for actions that continued in the past for an unspecified period of time.

When talking about a past action in progress that was interrupted, the action in progress is in the imperfect, while the interrupting action is in the preterite. For more on the differences between the preterite and the imperfect, check out this article!

EXAMPLES
Iba a clase cuando sonó el teléfono. I was going to class when the telephone rang.
Mi papá cocinaba cuando entré a casa. My dad was cooking when I came in the house.
A veces le dolían las manos y las piernas. Sometimes her hands and feet ached.

3. Times and Dates

The imperfect is used to talk about times and dates in the past.

EXAMPLES
Eran las tres de la tarde. It was three o’clock in the afternoon.
Era el 9 de mayo. It was May 9th.

4. Age

The imperfect is commonly used to talk about age in the past.

EXAMPLES
La niña tenía 4 años. The little girl was 4 years old.
Los perros tenían dos años cuando los adopté. The dogs were two years old when I adopted them.

5. Descriptions of Characteristics, Conditions, and Feelings

The imperfect is used to give descriptions in the past, especially those that set the scene in terms of the senses.

EXAMPLES
Mi profesor era alto y tenía el pelo ondulado. My professor was tall and had wavy hair.
El campo era bello. The countryside was beautiful.
Hacía calor esa noche. It was hot that night.
Me sentía feliz con mi trabajo nuevo. I was happy with my new job.
Quería mudarme a otro país. I wanted to move to another country.

Tag: Imperfect

Preterite vs Imperfect