http://forodeespanol.com/Archive/GramaticaGeneralSpanishGrammar-Questions/Forum12.htmWe answer lots of different types of general Spanish questions here.enCSMOD (Build: 3256.36449)http://forodeespanol.com/Archive/ImperfectVsPreterite/dkvg/post.htm#17703Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:16:37 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:17703Blake0http://forodeespanol.com/Archive/ImperfectVsPreterite/dkvg/post.htm#17703http://forodeespanol.com/Archive/comments12-17703.xmlUse the imperfect to indicate indefinite, open periods of time in the past; it&#39;s a non-eventive, background tense.<br /> Use the preterite to indicate definite, closed periods of time in the past; it&#39;s an eventive, foreground tense.<br /> <br /> If you&#39;re new to this, it may require some guess work until you get the hang of it.<br /> <br /> Use the imperfect to translate &#39;used to&#39;.<br /> used to eat - comi&#39;a<br /> used to sing - cantaba<br /> used to sleep - dormi&#39;a<br /> <br /> Use the imperfect to translate the past progressive (was/were ---ing).<br /> was eating - comi&#39;a<br /> was singing - cantaba<br /> was sleeping - dormi&#39;a<br /> <br /> Use the imperfect to translate verbs with &#39;no moving parts&#39; - things you can do in your mind without moving a muscle - things that can just &#39;be&#39;.<br /> <br /> knew - sabi&#39;a<br /> wanted - queri&#39;a<br /> was (located somewhere) - estaba<br /> <br /> Use the preterite for events and actions:<br /> I ate - comi&#39;<br /> She sang - canto&#39;<br /> They found&nbsp; - encontraron<br /> <br /> Use the preterite for a definite duration:<br /> He slept three hours. - Durmio&#39; tres horas.<br /> <br />When telling a story, use the imperfect to describe how things were when the events happened:&nbsp; It was dark and windy.&nbsp; There was no one home.<br /> And use the preterite to ennumerate the events of the story itself:&nbsp; There was a loud noise.&nbsp; A burglar broke into the house.&nbsp; The burglar took all the jewels.&nbsp; He ran away.<br /> <br /> If you&#39;re familiar with the creation story in the Bible, here&#39;s a good illustration of the imperfect - preterite difference:<br /> <br /> God said &quot;Let there be light&quot;<br /> And there was light.<br /> <br /> How to translate &quot;There was light&quot;?<br /> <br /> If we say &quot;habi&#39;a luz&quot; it makes no sense.&nbsp; The imperfect here just tells us the background circumstances in which the events of the story took place.&nbsp; By saying that, we mean to describe the scene as having light -- being lit.&nbsp; God was working &#39;with the lights on&#39;, so to speak.&nbsp; But that&#39;s not the meaning.&nbsp; The light wasn&#39;t already there.&nbsp; It was created.&nbsp; If the light was already there as part of the background of the story (habi&#39;a luz), nobody would have had to create it.<br /> <br /> Therefore we translate &quot;There was light&quot; in this context as &quot;Hubo luz&quot;, which indicates that an event occurred.&nbsp; The light came to be.<br /> __<br /> <br /> Another example:&nbsp; Both of these sentences have the past tense of have:&nbsp; Sally had a pet dog.&nbsp; Sally had an accident.<br /> One needs the imperfect of &#39;had&#39;:&nbsp; teni&#39;a.&nbsp; The other needs the preterite: tuvo.&nbsp; Which is which?<br /> <br /> Which one is a continuing state, not an event?&nbsp; That one will contain &#39;teni&#39;a&#39; for &#39;had&#39;.<br /> Which one is an event?&nbsp; That one will contain &#39;tuvo&#39; for &#39;had&#39;.<br /> <br /> After thinking about it a little, you should conclude that having a pet dog is simply a relationship that &#39;contains no moving parts&#39;.&nbsp; That one needs the imperfect - teni&#39;a.&nbsp; Having an accident, on the other hand, is an event.&nbsp; That one needs the preterite - tuvo.<br /> __<br /> <br /> Now think about this one:&nbsp; Sally had a baby.<br /> Can you invent a story in which &#39;had&#39; is &#39;teni&#39;a&#39;?&nbsp; Maybe you&#39;ll need to add a little:&nbsp; Sally had a baby with her when she visited her sister.&nbsp; She had a baby in her arms.&nbsp; ...<br /> Can you invent a story in which &#39;had&#39; is &#39;tuvo&#39;?&nbsp; What is the event of having a baby?<br /> <br /> You can see that sometimes you can&#39;t decide from the written words.&nbsp; Depending on the meaning in your head, &#39;had&#39; could be &#39;teni&#39;a&#39;, and it could be &#39;tuvo&#39;, even for the same written sentence.&nbsp; Context makes a big difference.<br /> <br /> Jim<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><div style="clear:both;"></div>http://forodeespanol.com/Archive/ImperfectVsPreterite/dkdl/post.htmThu, 31 May 2007 23:32:06 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:17691Anonymous1http://forodeespanol.com/Archive/ImperfectVsPreterite/dkdl/post.htmhttp://forodeespanol.com/Archive/comments12-17691.xml<b>can someone please help me know when to use imperfect or preterite..plz...</b><br /><div style="clear:both;"></div>