Sra. Kuonen Warren Central High School

English Connection Present-tensePast-tense He talksHe talked Él habla Él habló

Preterite/Imperfect Preterite Review The preterite is used for one time, past, completed actions. Actions that have a specific beginning and ending are usually in the preterite also. Preterite endings for regular –ar verbs are: -é -amos -aste -asteis -ó -aron For regular verbs ending in –er and –ir, the endings are: -í -imos -iste -isteis -ió-ieron

Irregular Preterite There are several irregular preterite verbs. These forms can be found on pages R34-R36 of your book. Spelling change preterites are found on page R32. There are several website where you can learn more about the irregular preterite forms. Here are a few: ¡Practiquen! Remember that irregular means that it does not follow a pattern. These verbs need to be MEMORIZED!

Imperfect For –ar ending verbs, the endings are: -aba -ábamos -abas -abais -aba –aban For –er and –ir verbs, the endings are the same: -ía-íamos -ías - íais -ía -ían There are only three irregular imperfect verbs, ir, ser, and ver. Their forms can be found on page 203 of your text book.

Contextual Clues If you first learn the endings for each tense well, then memorize the irregular forms of each tense. This will make it much easier when you are learning the difference between the preterite and imperfect tenses. Sometimes, there are clues in sentences to help you decide which tense to use. Look for words like: o Ayer - yesterday o Anoche – last night o Esta mañana – this morning These words imply that the action happened one time, so you would use preterite. If you see terms like: o a veces - sometimes o los jueves - onThursdays o always – siempre The action is repeated, use imperfect.

Imperfect Review Remember the acronym W.A.R.P.T. to remind you of when to use the imperfect tense. Weather Age Repeated and ongoing actions Physical and mental descriptions Time When you describe things or talk about actions with no definite ending, use the imperfect tense.

Ongoing Actions No definite ending point is stated Often translate to the past progressive tense in English (she was eating, they were working, etc.) Examples: Los niños miraban la televisión cuando el teléfono sonó. The children were watching TV when the telephone rang. miraban (on-going) sonó (1 time, completed) Yo cocinaba cuando ella llegó. I was cooking when she arrived. cocinaba (on-going) llegó (1 time, completed)

Descriptions If a physical or mental description is given in the past, use the imperfect. Examples: Me sentía muy feliz. Los niños estaban muy cansados. Cuando tenía ocho años, Elena era alta.

Repeated Actions If an action happened habitually in the past, the imperfect is used. Often there is contextual clue showing that the action was repeated. Tú siempre cantabas. - You always used to sing. Context clue! Mariana y su familia iba a la playa todos los veranos. Context clue! Since they used to go to the beach every summer, it is an imperfect action.

Telling time, Age Spanish uses the verb Ser with time. If the time is given in the past, the imperfect of ser is used. Use Eran for every hour but 1. Eran las tres. – It was 3:00. Eran las diez y veinte. It was 10:20. Era is used if the hour is 1. Era la una y media. – It was 1:30. Era la una menos diez. – It was 12:50 (Ten till one). To say how old someone was use the imperfect forms of Tener Tenía 3 años. – She was 3. Teníamos diez años. – We were 10. Cuando éramos jovenes – when we were young.

Práctica 1. Los niños (jugaron / jugaban) mucho en el parque. 2. Tú (aprendiste / aprendía) la lección ayer. 3. Yo (tuve / tenía) cuatro años. 4. Mi mamá y papá me (compraron / compraban) una computadora nueva la semana pasada. 5. Enrique y yo (fuimos / íbamos) al cine los viernes. 6. (Hizo / Hacía) mucho sol.

Respuestas 1. Los niños jugaban mucho en el parque. (repeated action) 2. Tú aprendiste la lección ayer. (specific time-yesterday) 3. Yo tenía cuatro años. (age) 4. Mi mamá y papá me compraron una computadora nueva la semana pasada. (specific time – last week) 5. Enrique y yo íbamos al cine los viernes. (repeated – on Fridays) 6. Hacía mucho sol. (weather description)