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Ayer + (yesterday ) - Ayer por la mañana fui al médico (I went to the doctor yesterday morning). Anteayer (the day before yesterday) - Terminé el curso anteayer (I finished the course the day before yesterday). Ayer (yesterday) - Ayer hizo mucho frío (It was very cold yesterday). Anteanoche (the night before last) - Anteanoche no pude dormir (I couldn’t sleep the night before last). Anoche (last night) - Anoche me fui a la cama muy tarde (I went to bed very late last night). There are several words and phrases that show you must use the preterite tense when they appear in a sentence. Me duché, desayuné y me fui al trabajo. (I took a shower, had breakfast and went to work.)Ībrió la carta, la leyó y la tiró a la basura. (He opened the letter, read it and threw it into the trash.) Preterite Tense Trigger Words When describing actions that were part of a chain of events No quería tener hijos pero de un día para el otro cambié de opinión. (I did not want to have children, but I changed my mind overnight.)ĥ. With the imperfect when describing situations that changed overnightĮstaba soltero hasta que un día conocí a María. (I was single until one day I met María.) Viví en Barcelona durante siete meses. (I lived in Barcelona for seven months.)Ĥ. Me leí ese libro en tres días. (I read that book in three days.) When you need to talk about actions that took place during a specific time period, but are not taking place anymore La semana pasada fui de compras tres veces. (I went shopping three times last week.)Īnoche me desperté dos veces. (I woke up twice last night.)ģ. Completed actions that took place a specific number of times or happened during a certain time period Mi hermano volvió a las 8. (My brother came back at 8:00.)Īyer comí manzanas. (I ate some apples yesterday.)Ģ. One-time events and completed actions that took place/started and finished at a specific moment in the past Preterite Tense in Spanish When to Use the Preterite Tenseġ. Nosotros comíamos comida italiana todos los lunes.Įllos escribieron este libro el año pasado. Nosotros comimos comida italiana el lunes. (He used to tell me stories about his childhood.) (He told me a story about his childhood.) (She spoke Chinese with her father yesterday.) Here are some examples of verbs in both of these past tenses-as you compare the sentences, remember that verbs in the preterite happened and ended at a specific time, whereas the imperfect past is used for unspecified durations of time and habitual past actions. Preterite and Past Imperfect ExamplesĪlthough both of these tenses are in the past, verbs have slightly different meanings in the preterite and past imperfect. And vivía (I lived) is in the imperfect tense as well because I lived in Mexico for an ongoing, unspecified amount of time. I used iba instead of fui because “going to the beach” was a routine (or habitual) past action. The second sentence has two instances of the imperfect. 
In the first sentence, I used the preterite tense because the action (going to the beach) happened once, at a specific time-yesterday. (I used to go to the beach when I lived in Mexico.) Yo iba a la playa cuando vivía en México.
Now let’s look at these two sentences in Spanish, and notice how the meaning slightly changes based on which tense I use: “ I used to go to the beach” requires the past imperfect “ I went to the beach yesterday” would require the preterite tense The Difference Between the Preterite and Past Imperfect Subjectīoth the preterite and past imperfect tenses describe actions that happened in the past.īut the main difference is that the preterite tense describes completed actions that happened at a specific time, whereas the past imperfect tense is used for actions that don’t have a specific ending (such as habitual actions).
Verbs Commonly Used in the Preterite Tense. The Difference Between the Preterite and Past Imperfect. #IR PAST PERFECT PDF#
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#IR PAST PERFECT HOW TO#
past imperfect in Spanish, their conjugations, how to use each and more. The conjugations and usages are different, causing many learners confusion.īut by the time you finish reading this blog post, you’ll know the difference between preterite vs. There are two simple past tenses in Spanish: the preterite and past imperfect. You already know how to build sentences in Spanish, you distinguish between ser and estar, you’ve mastered the present tense and can even use the four porques properly.īut talking about the past might be your first big challenge. Preterite vs Imperfect in Spanish: Differences, Conjugations, Usages and More
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