Verbs That Change Meaning in the Preterite and the Imperfect Page 90 – Chapter 2 Realidades 3
Verbs That Change in Meaning from Preterite to Imperfect Tenses A few Spanish verbs have different meanings in the imperfect and the preterite tenses: SABER CONOCER QUERER NO QUERER PODER
SABER Imperfect – “knew” ¿Sabías que el concierto empezaba tarde? Did you know that the concert began late? Preterite – “found out, learned” Sí, supe ayer que empezaba tarde. Yes, I found out that it began late.
CONOCER Imperfect – “knew (somebody)” Pedro conocía muy bien a esa actriz. Pedro knew that actress very well. Preterite – “met (somebody) for the first time” Luis la conoció el año pasado. Luis met her last year.
QUERER Imperfect – “wanted to” Luis quería comprar las entradas hoy. Luis wanted to buy the tickets today. Preterite – “tried to, attempted to” Yo quise comprarlas, pero me enfermé. I tried to buy them but I got sick.
NO QUERER Imperfect – “didn’t want to” No querían ver esa obra de teatro. They didn’t want to see that play. Preterite – “refused to” No quisieron ver esa obra de teatro. They refused to see that play.
PODER Imperfect – “was able to, could” Ella podía aprender la letra de la canción. She was able to learn the letter of the song. Preterite – “managed to, succeeded in” Ella pudo aprender la letra de esa canción. She succeeded in learning the letter of that song.
Verbs that Change Meaning in the Preterite Tense Some verbs change their meaning in the preterite tense. The preterite tense takes the original meaning of the verb and uses it as a “one time only” definition. Example: I knew you (imperfect tense). I met you (preterite tense). Yo te conocía (imperfecto). Yo te conocí (pretérito). Verb Imperfect Meaning Preterite Meaning saber knew found out, learned conocer knew (a person) met querer wanted to tried to no querer didn’t want to refused to poder able to, could managed to, succeeded