Preterite vs. Imperfect. El imperfecto  DESCRIBES THE SETTING OF THE STORY  IS AN ANTICIPATED EVENT in a story in the past (incomplete action)  Continuous,

Presentación del tema: "Preterite vs. Imperfect. El imperfecto  DESCRIBES THE SETTING OF THE STORY  IS AN ANTICIPATED EVENT in a story in the past (incomplete action)  Continuous,"— Transcripción de la presentación:

1 Preterite vs. Imperfect

2 El imperfecto  DESCRIBES THE SETTING OF THE STORY  IS AN ANTICIPATED EVENT in a story in the past (incomplete action)  Continuous, habitual, or repeated past actions- Exact moment of when it began and ended is NOT important  Describes state of mind or feeling- querer, saber, pensar, preferir, desear, sentir, poder

3 El preterito MAIN ACTION OF A STORY It ends and something else happens! Completed actions-you know when it BEGAN and ENDED A CHANGE in state of mind or feeling

4 Some Keywords Preterite  Ayer  Anteayer/anteanoche  Anoche  De repente  A las (time)  --- pasado/a (last ---)  El (day of the week)  --- vez (--- time)  Etc. Imperfect  A veces (sometimes)  A menudo (often)  Cada --- (each)  Frecuentemente  Muchas veces  Siempre  Los (day of the week)  Todos/as --- (every)  Etc.

5 Changes in Meaning (complete vs. incomplete) IMPERFECT  Saber  Knew  She knew the answer!  Conocer  Knew  They knew Paco from the party.  Querer  Wanted/desired  I said that I wanted to go to the movies.  Poder  Could  I asked if I could go to the movies.  Tener  Had  I had a dog when I was younger. PRETERITE  Saber  Found out  My parents found out the truth!  Conocer  met (for the 1 st time)  I met him at the party.  No querer  refused  I refused to go with him!  Poder  Was able to (and did (not)!)  I wasn’t able to go to the movies because my dad said “no”.  I was able to go to the party.  Tener  Got  I got a dog for my birthday.

6 Let’s try some… 1. Paco le dijo a su padre que (querer) ir al concierto con sus amigos. 2. No, yo no (poder) ir al cine porque tenía mucha tarea. 3. Ellos (tener) los papeles inmediatamente del maestro. 4. Nosotros (conocer) a nuestro primo por primera vez en la reunión. 5. No fui al cine porque no (querer). 6. Mis padres no (saber) que salimos muy tarde. (didn’t know) 7. Le pregunté a mi madre si yo (poder) ir contigo. 1. quería 2. pude 3. tuvieron 4. conocimos 5. quise 6. sabían 7. podía

7 In a story Is it background information (describing the setting: weather, intention, time, describing a person: looks, age, emotion)? YesNo Imperfect Did something happen while that action was happening? YesNo Did that action finish while the other action was happening? Preterite YesNo PreteriteImperfect