The greatest barrier to mastering the difference between preterite and imperfect tenses is simply understanding that this difference does not exist in English. English preterite is used to describe ALL things in the past (with the exception of helping verbs: had eaten, have met, etc). This is often the first time a Spanish student realizes that the internet translator has limitations. It doesn't understand the subtle differences between the two tenses. I will attempt to use English to give a feel for preterite and imperfect here, with the hope that the same knowledge can be applied to Spanish...

If you are short on time, just read the bold, numbered and italicized words and skim the rest :-)

Remember, ALL OF THIS TAKES PLACE IN THE PAST, which is why we are using these 2 past tenses

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The Preterite

Preterite quite simply means "past", or that which has happened. In Spanish, it takes on a further connotation of "completed action".

ex: "I drank all your Kool-aid."
ex: "Joe Millionaire lasted a full hour because of so many commercials."

If this were Spanish, drank would be in the preterite, since it is an action that 1) has a definite finishing point (ie. when I sipped the last drop). Lasted is a preterite verb because we are given 2) a specific duration in the past which is now over. Often times, this specific duration is inferred:

ex: "They met in Las Vegas."

This would be preterite in Spanish as well, because the act of meeting someone 3) occurs in an instant. It has a beginning and an end. They may have also planned on meeting up, in which case they completedthat meeting when the saw each other. Either way, this would be preterite in Spanish. The 4) completed action use of the preterite is most often used in giving a daily 5) routine:

ex: "I woke up at 7. I ate breakfast until 7:30. I showered at 8 and immediately went to school. I finished class at 11, then walked to the student union for lunch at a quarter to noon."

Every italicized verb in the above example would be preterite in Spanish, since 6) one action ended before another one started. Several phrases can be considered as triggers for use of the preterite when talking about the past: that moment, then, suddenly, at 3pm, five times...

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The Imperfect

Imperfect is most easily thought of as that which is "not yet perfect," or "not yet complete". The imperfect tense is often used to describe "incomplete actions" in Spanish.

ex: "She was raiding tombs at midnight."

We are not aware of any possible end to this action. All we know is that the action was 1) already in progress at a specified moment. The raiding was 2 ) not yet completed at midnight. Notice how was raiding is a compound verb (2 words) in English. In Spanish, it can be written as a compound (using estar + present participle), or with just one verb in the imperfect. The latter is more grammatically correct and widely used in Spanish. As with the preterite, an incomplete action can also often be inferred:

ex: "We grew up in the 'burbs."

In Spanish, grew up would be in the imperfect, even though we may be done growing, or now live in the ghetto.3) Verbs that occur over a long, unspecified duration are imperfect. The imperfect is also used to express 4) repetition in the past.

ex: "He always walked to school backwards."

Notice how always is italicized along with the verb, walked. Always lets us know that there is not one specific moment, or day, or year, or anything in which this action, walking, stopped. Walking backwards was a 5) habit or ritual. Several phrases can be considered as triggers for use of the imperfect when talking about the past: always, often, every day, frequently, generally, sometimes, Saturdays...

The imperfect has two other common uses: expressions of time and descriptions

ex. "It was almost midnight."
ex: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
ex. "Charles Dickens was wise."

6) Giving the time, date, weather, or season in the past is done with the imperfect tense, as in "almost midnight" for time, and arguably in "the best of times" for season. 7) Giving characteristic descriptions (age, size, color, personality...) also requires the imperfect, as in Dickens' wisdom.

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VERY IMPORTANT: the following rules most often apply to sentences/situations in which there are 2 or more verbs present. The usual rules for preterite and imperfect (in a textbook/notes from class) hold true for single-verb sentences.

Two-verb sentences

I have been told that two-verb sentences are not adequately explained, if mentioned at all, in class and in textbooks, yet appear on almost every exam and in everyday conversation. When two verbs appear together, there are only 3 ways in which they can relate:

1) one follows the other
2) they occur at the same exact time
3) one occurs during the course of the other

Knowing this, all verbs in multiple-verb sentences can be identified as preterite or imperfect. The method is extremely simple: MAKE A TIME LINE. I can not stress this enough. For every sentence, draw a simple time line to express the events taking place. I will illustrate this with a few examples:

ex. 1) "I ate dinner and brushed my teeth."

|--ate dinner--| |-brushed-|
-------------------------------------->
(time)

This is a routine in which one action follows the other (relation 1), as mentioned in the preterite section above. I did not eat and brush at the same time. Nor did I brush during the course of eating. Both ate and brushed must necessarily be in the preterite, since one stopped before the other started.

ex. 2) "Grandma stomped her feet and clapped her hands to the music."

|--stomped--|
|--clapped --|
-------------------------------------->
(time)

In this instance, grandma was both clapping and stomping at the same exact time (relation 2). Since the actions occured simultaneously, they must BOTH be in the imperfect. One action did not complete (did not perfect) before the other.

ex. 3) "Sandy was at work when you called."

|-you called-|
|------ Sandy was at work -------|
-------------------------------------->
(time)

In this sentence, Sandy is at work for some period of time. During that time, there is a moment in which you call. The calling takes place while Sandy is at work (relation 3). The verb work, therefore, is imperfect: incomplete at the time you called, which is at a specific moment: preterite.

These 3 relations and their tenses can be combined in multiple-verb sentences:

ex. 4: "While they sang and danced the week away, Jim's stock dropped 4 points and Leslie's cat ate her fish and got sick."

|-ate fish-| |-got sick-|
|-------------stock dropped---------------|
|------------------ they sang and danced ----------------|
------------------------------------------------------------>
(time)

Since the stock dropped and the cat got sick during the course of singing and dancing (relation 3), which occured at the same time (relation 2), sang and danced are imperfect (unfinished actions). Also, since the cat first ate the fish and then got sick (relation 1), both ate and got are preterite. The tricky verb is dropped. But since the cat ate the fish and got sick whilethe stock dropped (relation 3), dropped must be imperfect (unfinished).

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That's it! That's all there is to distinguishing preterite from imperfect verbs in single- and multiple-verb sentences... if English were to have both tenses. All the explanations are valid for Spanish though. Good luck! A few interesting preterite/imperfect variations are listed below:

saber "to know (about something)"
in the imperfect, it means to have had knowledge of; "to have known for some undefinite time"
in the preterite, it means to find out or to discover; "to have known at that moment (and not before)"

conocer "to know (a person)"
in the imperfect, it means to have had knowledge of, "to have known (someone)"
in the preterite, it means to have met someone, "to have known at that moment (and not before)"

no querrer "to not want"
in the imperfect, it means to not desire; simply "to not want"
in the preterite, it means to refuse; "to not want at that moment"

ir + a + infinitive "to go to ______"
in the imperfect, it signifies intention to do something; "was going to _____"
in the preterite, is signifies the beginning of an action; "went to ______"

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Page last updated: 15 October 2008
copyright © 2003 by Jamie Michael Kern

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