Preterite vs Imperfect: Which Spanish Past Tense Should You Use?

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When learning past tenses, Preterite vs Imperfect is a question that often causes a few problems for students learning Spanish verbs, and knowing which of these two past tenses to use, and when, can certainly be confusing. However, the following guidelines will provide you with a clear idea as to which tense, preterite or imperfect, should be used.

The Preterite Tense in Spanish

The preterite tense, sometimes referred to as the ”past historic, is used to explain completed actions in the past and will tell you what happened or, what somebody did at a particular time

Examples:

• Conduje el coche – I drove the car
• Cerré la ventana – I closed the window

The Spanish Imperfect Tense

The imperfect tense tells us what was going on, who was doing it or, who used to do it, over an indefinite period of time, with no beginning and no end.

Examples:

• Juan compraba el periódico todos los días – Juan used to buy the newspaper every day.
• El hombre vendía coches – The man was selling cars.

Obviously, getting past the preterite vs imperfect issue is a lot easier when you have tools that will help you learn each tense well, in particular the preterite which has a high number of verbs that are irregular in this tense.

One such tool is called the verbarrator, a recently developed downloadable software program that has had a remarkable impact on how students learn Spanish verbs, helping them to do so much more easily and much more quickly than ever before.

You can check out a review of this software by clicking on this link – Verbarrator Review

For more information on using the preterite and imperfect in Spanish the links below will be of help.

• Spanish Preterite
• Spanish Imperfect Tense Conjugation

Hasta Luego

Spanish Preterite: How to Conjugate the Preterite Tense in Spanish

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The Spanish preterite is a past tense consisting of one word, compared with the Perfect which has two, the auxiliary verb and the past participle, here are the essential aspects of the Spanish preterite.

• It is firstly a tense in one word both in Spanish and in English
• It describes a single, completed action in the past: for example, ‘I said‘, ‘Paul spoke‘, ‘we ate‘ and so on.
• What it is important to remember is it can be used in conversation just as well as in the narrative, which is the part outside the dialogue describing past actions.

Here are the endings for the Spanish preterite for each of the three groups of verbs; ar, er and ir.

Hablar – to speak

Comer – to eat

Vivir – to live

The biggest problem with learning the Spanish preterite is the large number of irregular verbs that must be mastered. The most important and most commonly used of these irregular verbs are dar, estar, haber, hacer, poder, poner, querer, saber, tener, venir, ser, ir and decir.

Learning each of the conjugations for each of these verbs is not going to be easy but… a verb training tool, such as the verbarrator, will not only provide you with the best possible help but it will also enable you to learn verb conjugation so much faster than if you were using traditional methods of study.

Take your first step towards mastering Spanish verb conjugation by taking 5 minutes to read this Verbarrator review, and you will then see how you and your studies can benefit greatly from using it.

Other Useful posts about conjugating verbs in the Spanish preterite:

• Dar Preterite Conjugation
• Estar Preterite Conjugation
• How to Conjugate Haber Preterite Tense
• How to Conjugate Hacer in the Preterite Tense
• Conjugating Poder Preterite Tense
• Poner Preterite Tense
• Querer Preterite Tense Conjugation
• Saber Preterite Tense Conjugation
• Tener Preterite: Tener Preterite Conjugation
• Conjugation of Venir Preterite Tense
• How to Conjugate Ser in the Preterite
• The Spanish Verb Ir Preterite Tense Conjugation: Preterito
• How to Conjugate Decir Preterite Tense

Hasta Luego

Danny

Irregular Past Tense Spanish Verbs – The Basics

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It isn’t too long after starting to learn Spanish verb conjugation that a student encounters the Spanish past tenses. These Spanish past tenses are called the preterite and the imperfect and both are widely used and it is therefore extremely important to fully understand when to use each tense and how each is formed.

There are irregular Spanish verbs in both past tenses (surprise,surprise!), not too many in the imperfect, but the preterite does contain some of the most irregular conjugations of all the tenses, so be warned.

We will now take a look at each of these past tenses, explaining when they are used, regular formation for each of the verb groups and irregular verb variations.

The Imperfect Past Tense in Spanish

The imperfect tense is used to refer to actions in the past that occurred repeatedly such as,

• I used to walk home every day – Caminaba cada día

It is also used to refer to actions in the past that happened over an extended period.

• I used to eat paella frequently – Comía frecuentemente paella

And for “setting the stage” for a past event.

• We were coming home when we saw Juan – Veníamos para casa cuando vimos a Juan

Non physical actions such as feelings and thoughts will also usually use the imperfect tense,

• Juan was feeling sick – Juan estaba enfermo

In Spanish there are two sets of regular verb endings for the imperfect tense, one is used for verbs ending in -ar and the other for verbs ending in -er and -ir, these endings rarely change even when used with irregular verbs and are as follows;

Enviar (to send)

• yo envi -aba (I was sending)
• tú envi -abas (you were sending)
• el/ella envi -aba (he/she was sending)
• nosotros envi -ábamos (we were sending)
• vosotros envi -abais (you were sending)
• ellos/ellas envi -aban (they were sending)

Tener (to have)

• yo ten -ía (I was having)
• tú ten -ías (you were having)
• el/ella ten -ía (he/she was having)
• nosotros ten -íamos (we were having)
• vosotros ten -íais (you were having)
• ellos/ellas ten -ían (they were having)

Decir (to say)

• yo dec -ía (I was saying)
• tú dec -ías (you were saying)
• el/ella dec -ía (he/she was saying)
• nosotros dec -íamos (we were saying)
• vosotros dec -íais (you were saying)
• ellos/ellas dec -ían (they were saying)

There are two exceptions to the regular pattern of the imperfect tense and they are the important verbs ‘ser‘ (to be) and ‘ir‘ (to go) which will both need to be thoroughly studied and they are conjugated as shown below;

Ser (to be)

• yo er -a (I was)
• tú er -as (you were)
• el/ella er -a (he/she was )
• nosotros ér -amos (we were)
• vosotros er -ais (you were)
• ellos/ellas er -an (they were)

Ir (to go)

• yo ib -a (I was going)
• tú ib -as (you were going)
• el/ella ib -a (he/she was going)
• nosotros íb -amos (we were going)
• vosotros ib -ais (you were going)
• ellos/ellas ib -an (they were going)

The Preterite Past Tense in Spanish

The preterite tense is used frequently and is used to describe past actions that are seen to be completed. As with the Imperfect tense the stem of the verb is used with the tense endings and, as with the imperfect, there are two sets of endings, one for -ar verbs and the other for -ir and -er verbs.

Enviar (to send)

• yo envi -é (I sent)
• tú envi -aste (you sent)
• el/ella envi -ó (he/she sent)
• nosotros envi -amos (we sent)
• vosotros envi -asteis (you sent)
• ellos/ellas envi -aron (they sent)

Coger (to take)

• yo cog -í (I took)
• tú cog -iste (you took)
• el/ella cog -ió (he/she took)
• nosotros cog -imos (we took)
• vosotros cog -isteis (you took)
• ellos/ellas cog -ieron (they took)

Salir (to leave)

• yo sal -í (I left)
• tú sal -iste (you left)
• el/ella sal -ió (he/she left)
• nosotros sal -imos (we left)
• vosotros sal -isteis (you left)
• ellos/ellas sal -ieron (they left)

Unlike the imperfect tense there are a number of verbs that have irregularities in the formation of the preterite tense and to list them all along with their many differences would be too big a job for this article.

The most commonly used irregular past tense verbs in the preterite tense are;

• estar (to be),
• dar (to give),
• haber (to have),
• tener (to have),
• poner (to put),
• hacer (to do,make),
• poder (to be able to, can),
• querer (to want),
• ser (to be),
• decir (to say)
• ir (to go)

All of which are very different and will each need learning individually unfortunately!

If you need help with learning Spanish verb conjugation then you should use the Verbarrator. Read my honest and personal Verbarrator Review before you go any further.

For another  interesting post read my previous post on how to Conjugate Spanish Verbs

How to Conjugate Spanish Preterite Tense Verbs

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Spanish Preterite Tense Verbs

Using Spanish preterite tense verbs correctly is something that every student of Spanish should know how to do, and do well, as the preterite is probably the most widely used of all past tenses in Spanish.

However, the difficulty that many students face when learning the conjugation of verbs in the preterite tense is that there are large number of irregular verbs to master, many of which are an absolute necessity for use in day to day conversational Spanish.

If you are just starting out however, you should not concern yourself with the intricacies surrounding the conjugation of irregular verbs and first concentrate on mastering the basic preterite conjugation of regular verbs, and that is what will be covered here.

So, here are examples of three regular Spanish verbs, one from each of the three verb groups, conjugated in the preterite tense.

Hablar – to speak

• hablé – I spoke
• hablaste – you spoke
• habló – he/she spoke
• hablamos – we spoke
• hablasteis – you all spoke
• hablaron – they spoke

Abrir – to open

• abrí – I opened
• abriste – you opened
• abrió – he/she opened
• abrimos – we opened
• abristeis – you all opened
• abrieron – they opened

Beber – to drink

• bebí – I drank
• bebiste – you drank
• bebió – he/she drank
• bebimos – we drank
• bebisteis – you all drank
• bebieron – they drank

You may have noticed that the endings for the er and ir regular verbs are the same, which does make learning them a little easier.

If you enjoyed this post why not check out my last one about learning how to conjugate in Spanish better still, check out my review of a training tool that will help you master Spanish verbs in every tense and much more quickly too by reading my Verbarrator Review.