Preterite vs imperfect, explained
Spanish has two simple past tenses. The preterite (hablé) tells what happened: finished events that move a story on. The imperfect (hablaba) describes: the background, what was going on, what used to happen.
Choosing between them is the biggest step at A2, and in a story you usually need both: the imperfect sets the scene, the preterite says what happened in it.
The essentials
- Preterite for completed events at a finished time: ayer comí paella, viví en Roma dos años.
- Imperfect for descriptions, habits and actions in progress: hacía sol, de niño jugaba al fútbol, leía cuando sonó el teléfono.
- The imperfect has only three irregular verbs: ser (era), ir (iba) and ver (veía).
- Some verbs change meaning in the preterite: supe (I found out), conocí (I met), no quise (I refused).
- Spain also uses the present perfect for today and recent time: hoy he comido tarde. Most of Latin America uses the preterite there: hoy comí tarde.
Every lesson on this topic
Each lesson has a full explanation, examples you can listen to, and exercises with answers.
A2 (the A2 course)
- Preterite of regular verbs: Hablé, comí, viví: finished actions at a finished time
- Irregular preterites: ser/ir, tener, estar, hacer, poder, poner, venir: Fui, tuve, estuve, hice, pude, puse, vine
- Preterite stem and spelling changes: pidió, durmió, busqué, leyó: -ir stem-changers, -car/-gar/-zar, and i → y
- The imperfect: forms and uses: Hablaba, comía, era, iba: habits, descriptions and background
- Preterite or imperfect (first contrast): Events move the story; the imperfect paints the scene
- The present perfect (he hablado) and when Spain uses it: He comido, has visto: today, this week, ya, todavía no, nunca
B1 (the B1 course)
- Narrating the past: all three past tenses together: Tell a story with the imperfect for the scene, the preterite for events and the pluperfect for what came before.
- Verbs that change meaning in the preterite: supe, conocí, quise, pude: Saber, conocer, querer, poder and tener que mean something different in the preterite and the imperfect.
In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions that explain the rule when you slip, and brought back for review on later days.
Other topics
- Ser vs estar, explained
- Por vs para, explained
- The Spanish subjunctive, explained
- Gustar and verbs like it, explained
- Spanish reflexive verbs, explained
- Spanish object pronouns, explained
- Spanish commands (the imperative), explained
- Spanish future and conditional, explained
- The Spanish present tense and stem-changing verbs
- Spanish perfect tenses: he hablado, había hablado and more
- Tú vs usted (and vosotros vs ustedes), explained
- Spanish articles, gender and agreement, explained
- Spanish pronunciation and accent marks, explained