Cap. 9 Preterite & Imperfect Uses

Imperfect - general

Ongoing actions in the past, not important when action began or ended, description of details: background information, conditions, people, places in past (time, weather, age, physical attributes, names, what someone was wearing)

Imperfect - story telling

2 simultaneous actions (in progress at the same time, "mientras" "y" "siempre")

Preterite - general

beginning + ending of past actions (until, at 8pm), specific moments in past, completed actions within clear time frame

Preterite - story telling

past tense narration recounting principle actions in sequence (one right after another, in time), relating them in story (each one is completed before next one begins)

separate sentences or phrases/times, "primero, después"

Together

When an action is in progress and then one interrupts it (begins) (imperfect then preterite)

"cuando" or "mientras" ___ , ___

emotional, mental states

Imperfect - description of emotional/mental condition (in progress, continuous)

Preterite - change of condition or emotion (completed)

Verbs

Usually all used with preterite: change

me, te, se, nos, se +

aburrirse - to become bored

alegrarse - to become happy

asustarse - to become frightened

enojarse - to become angry

frustrarse - to become frustrated

sorprenderse - to be surprised

ponserse - to become ... adjective (used with preterite because it is a change in emotion)

sentirse - to feel (me siento, stem changing)

Verbs diff in preterite & imperfect

verb - imperfect - preterite

conocer - knew, acquainted with - met

saber - knew (about) - found out

haber - there was/were (description) - there was/were (occurred)

poder or no poder - was able to (circumstance) or was not able to - succeeded in or failed to

querer or no querer - wanted to or didn't want to - tried to or refused to

Preterite conjugations

-AR: é, aste, ó, amos, an

-ER/-IR: í, iste, ió, imos, ieron

Irregular: e, iste, o, imos, ieron

SER/IR: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron

VER: vi, viste, vio, vimos, vieron

DAR: di, diste, dio, dimos, dieron

Preterite irregulars

-IR verbs will stem change in 3rd person (él, ella, usted, ustedes, ellos, ellas) - O->U & E->I

-car -> qué, -gar -> gué, -zar -> cé (empecé + empezó)

Stem changing:

traducir -> traduj- (to translate)

haber -> hubo

conducir -> conduj-

decir -> dij-

hacer -> hic-, hiz- (to make/do)

poder -> pud- (to be able to)

poner -> pus- (to put)

saber -> sup-

traer -> traj- (to bring)

estar -> estuv-

tener -> tuv-

venir -> vin- (to come) querer -> quis-