Español III - pretérito vs. imperfecto (formas y conjugación)

Preterite AR

é

aste

ó

amos

asteis

aron

Imperfect AR

aba

abas

aba

ábamos

abais

aban

Preterite ER / IR

í

iste

ió

imos

isteis

ieron

Imperfect ER / IR

ía

ías

ía

íamos

íais

ían

Age

Imperfect

Location

Imperfect

Weather

Imperfect

Emotional / Mental State

Imperfect

Physical / Personality Description

Imperfect

Telling Time

Imperfect

Habitual / Repeated Actions (Frequently, Always)

Imperfect

Beginning or End of an Action

Preterite

To move the story forward

Preterite

Action that is repeated a specific number of times

Preterite

One-time event

Preterite

Key Verb (Preterite): Ser

fui

fuiste

fue

fuimos

fuisteis

fueron

Key Verb (Preterite): Ir

Fui

fuiste

fue

fuimos

fuisteis

fueron

Key Verb (Preterite): Dar

Di

diste

dio

dimos

disteis

dieron

Key Verb (Preterite): Hacer

Hice

hiciste

hizo

hicimos

hicisteis

hicieron

Key Verb (Imperfect): Ir

iba

ibas

iba

íbamos

ibais

iban

Key Verb (Imperfect): Ser

era

eras

era

éramos

erais

eran

Key Verb (Imperfect): Ver

veía

veías

veía

veíamos

veíais

veían

Other Preterite Irregulars

andar - anduv

estar -estuv

tener - tuv

venir - vin

poder - pud

poner - pus

saber - sup

Other Preterite Irregulars 2

decir-dij

traer - traj

Preterite Stem Changers

-AR and -ER verbs that change their stem in the present tense do not change in the preterit.

-IR Verbs only change in the El / Ella / Usted form and Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes form

Preterite -Gar , -Car , -Zar

Verbs that end in -gar change g to gu

Verbs that end in -car change c to qu

Verbs that end in -zar change z to c

Imperfect Hint:

One way to determine if a verb is actually the imperfect is to try substituting one of the following:

>was/were …ing

>used to…

>would (meaning: used to)