Preterito y Imperfecto

Share on Facebook

Kenny

#17740 Wed, 06 Jun 07 12:05 PM

Take this sentence: (which I hope is gramatically correct!)

Fui al cine la semana pasada porque queria ver una pelicula.

There is a mixing of preterite and imperfect, so why if it's clear that the event happened last week, is 'querer' imperfect?

I'm confused!

Kenny

Joined on 09-05-2007

Usuario Principiante (19)

yizak_asimov

#17760 Thu, 07 Jun 07 06:10 PM

Fui al cine la semana pasada porque quería ver una película

Quería---> is preterit imperfect because is not clear that you saw the film.
Quise ---> is preterit perfect because with this word is clear that you saw the film.

In the case of preterit imperfect you have two options.

This is indicative (indicativo)
Preterit imperfect (Pretérito imperfecto o Copretérito)
Yo quería
Tú querías
El/Ella quería
Nosotros queríamos
Ustedes queríais / querían
Ellos/ Ellas querían

This is subjunctive (subjuntivo o subordinación)
Preterit imperfect (Pretérito imperfecto o Pretérito)
Yo quisiera o quisiese
Tú quisieras o quisieses
El/Ella quisiera o quisiese
Nosotros quisiéramos o quisiésemos
Ustedes quisierais o quisieseis / quisieran o quisiesen
Ellos/ Ellas quisieran o quisiesen

In the case of the preterit perfect you have this option

Preterit perfect simple (Pretérito perfecto simple o Pretérito)
Yo quise
Tú quisiste
El/Ella quiso
Nosotros quisimos
Ustedes quisisteis / quisieron
Ellos/Ellas quisieron

yizak_asimov

Joined on 25-05-2007

Usuario Principiante (46)

Subjuntivo

Kenny

#17797 Fri, 08 Jun 07 11:56 AM

Many thanks, nicely explained!

I'm slowly getting to grips with verbs after 2 years work! In English, a few tenses cover almost all scenarios however in Spanish there seems to be a particular tense or mood to cover almost every concievable situation.

I find it extremely difficult to converse quickly when I'm constantly thinking about gender and number agreement, word order, grammatical rules and now the correct tense not just in terms of time but for it's exact situation. Phew!!!

Kenny

yizak_asimov

#17801 Fri, 08 Jun 07 10:41 PM

It’s OK, with more practice you will be able to write up well in Spanish, now you try to speak and write although you say incongruous things.

yizak_asimov

Blake

#17818 Sun, 10 Jun 07 07:16 AM

The preterite tells the action of your story; the imperfect tells the state of affairs that existed at the time. What you're saying is sort of like this:

I took the action of going (fui) to the movies because I was then in the state of wanting (quería) to see a film.

As used in your sentence, going is an action; wanting is not.

Whether it was last week or last year makes no difference!

Jim

Blake

Joined on 15-05-2007

Usuario Principiante (24)