Cornell Notes: Preterite vs. Imperfect

Topic: 

Preterite vs. Imperfect Tense

Questions / Main Ideas      Notes

What do we express with these tenses?

The preterite and imperfect tenses are both indicating a past action or state.

Are these two tenses interchangeable?

NO.  These two tenses have different meanings or implications.

Conjugation

Both tenses have their own separate conjugations – each have one set of endings for –AR, and one set of endings for both –ER and –IR verbs + both tenses have verbs that are irregular in their formation.

How can I tell which past tense I have to use?

From the function / purpose of the sentence, + there are “trigger phrases” that indicate either the preterite or the imperfect

Preterite Uses

• Completed actions that have definite beginning and end points

• Actions that were repeated in the past, a specific number of times

• The Preterite tends to “freeze” an action or state in the past (it’s over and done with)

Phrases that trigger the Preterite (incomplete list)

ayer, anteayer, anoche, el año pasado, la semana pasada, hace dos años, una vez, durante tres siglos, el otro día, entonces, en ese momento, etc.

Example sentences for the Preterite

• Fui al baile anoche. (I went to the dance last night.)

• Compré la comida en el supermercado ayer.  (I bought the food at the supermarket yesterday.)

• Vine, vi, vencí. (I came, I saw, I conquered.)

Some verbs are Preterite by nature

This is so because some verbs have a very definite beginning and ending.  Examples:

• nacer – to be born

• morir (ue) – to die

• descubrir – to discover

• salir – to leave

• llegar – to arrive

Imperfect Uses

• Actions in the past that do NOT have a definite beginning or end

• Actions that set the stage for another past tense event

• Past actions and states in progress

• For telling time, date and describing weather in the past

• For telling a person’s age in the past

• To describe people (their characteristics) in the past (what people used to be like in the past)

• To communicate mental and physical states in the past

• Past actions that were habitual (in English, we express this with “used to” or “would”)

Phrases that trigger the Imperfect (incomplete list)

a veces, a menudo, algunas veces, cada día, todos los años, con frecuencia, frecuentemente, casi nunca, de vez en cuando, en aquella época, usualmente, mientras, muchas veces, nunca, siempre, varias veces, por un rato, por lo general, todo el tiempo, etc.

Example sentences for the Imperfect

• Cuando yo era niña, jugaba con muñecas.  (When I was a little girl, I played with dolls.

• No lo sabía.  (I didn’t know that.)

• Estaba durmiendo cuando sonó el teléfono.  (I was sleeping when the phone rang.)

• Los chicos hablaban español en casa.  (The kids used to speak Spanish at home.)

The Preterite and the Imperfect are both simple (meaning: non-compound or one-word) tenses indicating a past action or state.  Sometimes a given English past-tense sentence may be translated into Spanish with either the Preterite or the Imperfect, but these two tenses have very different meanings and implications, therefore the two tenses are not interchangeable within a context.  Each tense has very distinct conjugation patterns, and also several verbs that are irregular in their formation that must be memorized.  There are many phrases that automatically indicate the use of either the Preterite or the Imperfect tense (“trigger phrases”).