Spanish Preterite vs. Imperfect and Verb Usage

Vocabulary flashcards covering Spanish preterite vs. imperfect rules, specific verb forms, and sentence structures with verbs like gustar and interesar.

Preterite Tense

Grammatical tense used for completed actions/events in the past, or actions that happened once or a specific number of times.

Imperfect Tense

Grammatical tense used for ongoing, repeated, or habitual actions in the past, as well as descriptions, time, age, weather, and background information.

hablé

Regular preterite form of the verb hablar, meaning 'I talked'.

estuve

Irregular preterite form of the verb estar, meaning 'I was'.

fui

Preterite form of the verbs ser or ir, meaning 'I went' or 'I was'.

iba

Imperfect form of ir meaning 'used to go', used for habitual past actions.

fue

Preterite form meaning 'went', used for a completed past event.

empezó

Preterite form meaning 'started', used to indicate an interrupting action in the past.

era

Imperfect form meaning 'was', used for descriptions in the past.

recogieron

Preterite form meaning 'collected', used for a specific completed event in the past.

reciclaba

Imperfect form meaning 'used to recycle', used with indicator words like 'Antes' for habitual past actions.

vimos

Preterite form meaning 'saw', used with time triggers like 'De repente' to show a specific past event.

hacía

Imperfect form used for past background descriptions, such as weather expressions like 'hacía calor' (it was hot).

esperaba

Imperfect form meaning 'was waiting', used with 'Mientras' to express a past action in progress.

atendió

Preterite form meaning 'helped' or 'served', used with indicator words like 'Finalmente' to mark a completed past event.

A Elena le interesa el reciclaje

Correct sentence structure using the personal preposition 'A', singular indirect pronoun 'le', and singular verb 'interesa' matching 'el reciclaje'.

A mis amigos les gustan los parques

Correct sentence structure using the personal preposition 'A', plural indirect pronoun 'les', and plural verb 'gustan' matching 'los parques'.