Preterite vs Imperfect

Question

What is the difference between preterite and imperfect? Provide examples to support your answer.

Answer 1

The following is a very simplified explanation of the preterit and imperfect tenses in Spanish. I always think of the imperfect as an ongoing horizontal line with the preterit occurring at one particular point on that line.

Example: Comía cuando él me gritó. I was eating when he yelled at me. Eating is an ongoing activity or background against which the completed action of yelling occurs.

⇓

–––––––––––––—————————— ⇐ I was eating - Comía (The horizontal line)

⇑

When he yelled at me

Cuando él me gritó.

(The vertical arrows

show where the yelling

occurred in relationship

to eating).

As a general rule, the imperfect indicates an ongoing action, while the preterit has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

The imperfect can also be used for habitual actions, time or age in the past, to describe a condition in the past, or to describe an action that occurred during an unspecified time in the past.

Answer 2

Preterite tense is used when you want to describe an event that happened at a specific moment in the past, when the action has a specific beginning and end. For example,

"I ate breakfast." - "Yo desayuné." or

"I took a shower." - "Yo me duché." or

"We went to the movies." - "Nosotros fuimos al ciné."

Imperfect tense, on the other hand, is for past events that don't have specific beginnings or ends or things that took place over a long period of time. Additionally, imperfect tense is used to describe what you were doing when something else happened. For example,

"I lived in England." - "Yo vivía en inglaterra." or

"While you were eating, she talked to me." - "Mientras comía ella me habló."

"I was waiting for you." - "Yo te estaba esperando."

I hope this helps! If you have more questions, feel free to contact me!

Best,

David