EL PASADO EN ESPAÑOL: PARTE 1: El pretérito vs. el imperfecto In Spanish, we use both the preterit and imperfect tenses to describe actions that took place in the past. The question is, how do we choose which tense to use?

Uses of the preterit tense (TAKING A POLEROID PICTURE): The preterit tense is used to indicate a completed action in the past. IN PARTICULAR, WE USE THE preterit FOR: Completed actions stated as a simple fact. A list of events in the past without much detail (not setting the stage for a story, just listing the facts). Actions which occurred at a specific moment in time/isolated actions. Rosa escribió un texto a su novio.  Rosa wrote a text to her boyfriend. This is preterit because Rosa has completed the specific action (writing a text). Este fin de semana, vi a mis amigos el viernes. El sábado hice mucha tarea, y el domingo, ayudé a mi mamá con la cena.  Last weekend I saw my friends on Friday. On Saturday I did a lot of homework, and on Sunday I helped my mom cook dinner. This is preterit because it shows completed actions as simple facts/list of past events without much detail. Ana llegó tarde a la escuela.  Ana arrived late to school.. This is preterit because it is an action that happened in a specific moment in time/isolated action.

Uses of the imperfect tense (SETTING THE STAGE/DESCRIPTIONS Uses of the imperfect tense (SETTING THE STAGE/DESCRIPTIONS. THE CAMERA IS RECORDING…) The imperfect tense is used to indicate habitual actions in the past (“I always used to…”), an action that happened in the past but still is true or happening now, or an action that has no beginning or end time. It is also used to “set the stage” or “describe the situation” when you are telling a story. IN PARTICULAR, WE USE THE IMPERFECT FOR: To express what “used to” happen, or happened repeatedly in the past. Words like “nunca,” “siempre,” are used to show habits in the past (imperfect). Siempre hacía mi tarea cuando era pequeño.  I always did my homework when I was little. This is imperfect because it describes something that used to happen repeatedly in the past Cuando era niño, yo iba a la casa de mis abuelos cada verano.  When I was a kid, I used to go to my grandparents’ house every summer. This is imperfect because it describes something that I “used to” do every summer. It also has no beginning or end time.

2. To describe characteristics of persons or things in the past 2. To describe characteristics of persons or things in the past. (descriptions) Tom era rubio y tenía los ojos azules.  Tom was blonde and had blue eyes. 3. To describe a state of mind, feeling, emotion, physical condition or attitude in the past (specifically for past actions that do not have a beginning/end time and/or might still reach into the present moment). María siempre quería ser doctor.  María always wanted to be a doctor This is imperfect because it describes a state of mind in the past that might still be true today. using the verb “querer.” Ana estaba enferma ayer.  Ana was sick yesterday. (physical condition that might still be true) Mi papá estaba muy enojado anoche My dad was really mad last night. (emotion that might still be true) 4. To express time in the past . Eran las cinco cuando Paco llegó a su casa.  It was five o’clock when Paco arrived home. (time)

5. To express a person’s age when an event took place. Cuando Elena tenía 5 años, fue a Disneyland. When Elena was 5 years old, she went to Disneyland. This is imperfect because it expresses the time of day in the past. ** notice that “she went” (fue) is preterit because it happened once/was an isolated event. 6. Setting the stage/scenery for a story (DESCRIPTION). Era un día muy bonita y los pájaros estaban cantando en el parque. Estaba andando por la calle cuando…  It was a pretty day and the birds were singing in the park. I was walking down the street when… This is imperfect because it is setting the stage/scenery for my story. I am not just listing simple facts but instead giving details about an event. 7. To replace the past progressive (i.e. what was happening - was/were + “-ing”). Los pájaros cantaban  The birds were singing. This is imperfect because it describes what was happening, using was/were + an “-ing” word (“singing”).

Using the preterit and imperfect together: Sometimes, as seen in the last example above, the preterit and imperfect can be used together. This most often happens when something WAS HAPPENING when another action interrupts it. Mónica estaba estudiando cuando su novio le llamó por teléfono. Monica was studying when her boyfriend called her on the phone.

EXCEPTIONS TO IMPERFECT RULES: WEATHER EMOTIONS, PHYSICAL CONDITIONS, STATE OF MIND, ATTITUDES If you are ONLY stating a fact (no details, such as reading the weather report in the paper) OR if you think of the situation as A COMPLETED ACTION (FINISHED, no new discussion about it), you may use the PRETÉRITO. ESTAR (pretérito) ESTAR (imperfecto) yo estuve estaba Examples of PRETÉRITO tú estuviste estabas Juan: ¿Por qué no fuiste al baile? él,ella, usted estuvo estaba (Why didn’t you go to the dance?) nosotros estuvimos estábamos María: Porque estuve cansada. ellos/ustedes estuvieron estaban (Because I was tired.) WEATHER (pretérito) (imperfecto) Newspaper: Ayer, hizo 65 grados. hizo calor hacía calor (Yesterday it reached 65 degrees.) hizo frío hacía frío

Here is another way to remember:

¡A PRACTICAR!

¿El pretérito o el imperfecto? – ¡Escógelo, escríbelo, y defiéndelo! Translate each sentence below. Then, indicate the tense you used and state the rule you used to decide whether the verb(s) should be in the preterit or imperfect tense. Modelo: It was nine o’clock. Regla: imperfecto/time Eran las nueve. 1.) She went home. Regla: 2.) Marisa arrived at three o’clock. Regla: 3.) We used to play soccer a lot. Regla: 4.) He was 25 years old. Regla: 5.) I saw an accident this morning. Regla: 6.) We didn’t go to the beach yesterday. Regla: 7.) We went to the beach every summer. Regla: 8.) They were studying when Carlos called. *Reglas: pretérito/completed action imperfecto/ “used to” – habitual action imperfecto/age pretérito/completed action, specific moment in time pretérito/completed (action did not occur) imperfecto/habitual action Interrupted action/-ing in the past

MÁS PRÁCTICA: ¿Pretérito o imperfecto? Choose whether each of the following statements would require using the preterit or imperfect tense in Spanish by circling “P” for preterit and “I” for imperfect: 1.)_______ I ran five miles yesterday. 2.) _______ It was four o’clock. 3.) _______ He was reading the newspaper. 4.) _______ She studied for two hours last night. 5.) _______ We went to Canada every year in the summer. 6.) _______ I used to ride my bike all day long. 7.) _______ Wow! Was she angry! (she still might be angry) 8.) _______You arrived at the hotel in the afternoon. 9.) _______The cat jumped out of the window. 10.) _______He was wearing a black leather jacket. 11.) _______ We lost the match. 12.) _______ We were so sad. (we might still be sad) 13.) _______ They vacationed in Hawaii last year. 14.) _______They always used to vacation in Florida. 15.) _______They never arrived last night. 16.) _______ Did you have to work last Saturday? 17.) _______ The dog ran after the mailman. P I

PARTE 2: EL IMPERFECTO

EL IMPERFECTO: El imperfecto de los verbos que terminan en “-ar” Verb Endings: hablar – to talk Yo -aba (Yo) hablaba Tú -abas (Tú) hablabas Él/Ella/Ud. -aba (Él/Ella) hablaba Nosotros -ábamos (Nosotros) hablábamos Ellos/Ellas/ -aban (Ellos/Ellas) hablaban Uds. El imperfecto de los verbos que terminan en “-er” e “-ir” Verb Endings: tener – to have vivir – to live Yo -ía tenía vivía Tú -ías tenías vivías Él/Ella/Ud. -ía tenía vivía Nosotros -íamos teníamos vivíamos Vosotros -íais teníais vivíais Ellos/Ellas/ -ían tenían vivían

El imperfecto de ser, ir, y ver: SER – to be IR– to go VER – to see Yo era iba veía Tú eras ibas veías Él/Ella/Ud. era iba veía Nosotros éramos íbamos veíamos Ellos/Ellas/Uds. eran iban veían

- aba - abas - ábamos - aban - ía - ías - íamos - ían - ía - ías ¡A PRACTICAR! Fill in the chart below with the imperfect endings. - aba - abas - ábamos - aban - ía - ías - íamos - ían - ía - ías - íamos - ían

Yo ______________ _____________ _______________ Write all the imperfect tense forms of the verbs below.   hablar comer escribir Yo ______________ _____________ _______________ Tú ______________ _____________ _______________ Él/Ella/Ud. ______________ _____________ _______________ Nosotros ______________ _____________ _______________ Ellos/Ellas/Uds. ______________ _____________ _______________ llevar tener decidir cantar querer vivir hablaba hablabas hablábamos hablaban comía comías comíamos comían escribía escribías escribíamos escribían llevaba llevabas llevábamos llevaban tenía tenías teníamos tenían decidía decidías decidíamos decidían cantaba cantabas cantábamos cantaban quería querías queríamos querían vivía vivías vivíamos vivían

ser ir ver Yo ______________ _____________ _______________ Tú ______________ _____________ _______________ Él/Ella/Ud. ______________ _____________ _______________ Nosotros ______________ _____________ _______________ Ellos/Ellas/Uds. ______________ _____________ _______________ era eras éramos eran iba ibas íbamos iban veía veías veíamos veían

PARTE 3: EL PRETÉRITO

Here are all the preterit forms or regular –ar, -er, and –ir verbs: comprar = to buy (-ar endings: é, aste, ó, amos, aron) (Yo) compré (Tú) compraste (Él/Ella/Ud.) compró (Nosotros) compramos (Ellos/Ellas/Uds.) compraron comer = to eat (-er endings: í, iste, ió, imos, ieron) (Yo) comí (Tú) comiste (Él/Ella/Ud.) comió Nosotros) comimos (Ellos/Ellas/Uds.) comieron vivir = to live (-ir endings: í, iste, ió, imos, ieron) (Yo) viví (Tú) viviste (Él/Ella/Ud.) vivió (Nosotros) vivimos (Ellos/Ellas/Uds.) vivieron

•–ar and –er verbs that have a stem change in the present tense do not have a stem change in the preterit. encontrar – to find (ue): Encuentro dinero en la calle. Ayer, encontré dinero en la calle. volver – to return (ue): Siempre vuelvo a casa a las cinco de la tarde. Ayer, volví a las seis de la tarde. in the preterit, verbs whose infinitive ends in –gar or –car have a spelling change in the yo form. All of their other preterit forms are regular. pagar  yo pagué sacar  yo saqué llegar  yo llegué buscar  yo busqué jugar  yo jugué tocar  yo toqué

¡A PRACTICAR!

- é - í - í - aste -iste -iste - ó - ió - ió - amos - imos - imos ¡A PRACTICAR! Fill in the chart below with the preterit endings for REGULAR verbs. - é - aste - ó - amos - aron - í -iste - ió - imos - ieron - í -iste - ió - imos - ieron

Yo ______________ _____________ _______________ Write all the preterit tense forms of the verbs below.   hablar comer escribir Yo ______________ _____________ _______________ Tú ______________ _____________ _______________ Él/Ella/Ud. ______________ _____________ _______________ Nosotros ______________ _____________ _______________ Ellos/Ellas/Uds. ______________ _____________ _______________ llevar perder decidir cantar correr vivir hablé hablaste habló hablamos hablaron comí comiste comió comimos comieron escribí escribiste escribió escribimos escribieron llevé llevaste llevó llevamos llevaron perdí perdiste perdió perdimos perdieron decidí decidiste decidió decidimos decidieron canté cantaste cantó cantamos cantaron corrí corriste corrió corrimos corrieron viví viviste vivió vivimos vivieron

trabajar vender salir Yo ______________ _____________ _______________ Tú ______________ _____________ _______________ Él/Ella/Ud. ______________ _____________ _______________ Nosotros ______________ _____________ _______________ Ellos/Ellas/Uds. ______________ _____________ _______________ trabajé trabajaste trabajó trabajamos trabajaron vendí vendiste vendió vendimos vendieron salí saliste salió salimos salieron

LOS VERBOS IRREGULARES EN EL PRETÉRITO: Of course, there are always some exceptions to the rule. In the preterit, there are some verbs that undergo a stem-change and also have some irregularities in their endings. Some of these verbs are: estar, hacer, poder, poner, querer, tener, venir, decir Fortunately, these verbs do share some similarities so they will not be that difficult to create and use in your everyday Spanish. All of these verbs have a unique stem change in the preterit tense: estar  estuv poner  pus venir  vin hacer hic querer  quis decir  dij poder pud tener  tuv andar  anduv This stem-change applies to all persons in the preterit tense. These verbs have a set of endings different from “regular” verbs: Yo  -e EJEMPLO: estuve en clase. Tú  -iste EJEMPLO: Tuve un accidente en el carro. Él/Ella/Ud.  -o Nosotros  -imos Ellos/Ellas/Uds.  -ieron

Finally, three last verbs you should know in the preterit tense are: IR SER DAR Yo fui fui di Tú fuiste fuiste diste Él/Ella Ud. fue fue dio Nosotros fuimos fuimos dimos Ellos/Ellas/Uds. fueron fueron dieron

¡Practicamos los verbos irregulares en el pretérito! Give the preterit stem for each of the following verbs:   Tener  _________ Hacer  _________ Poder _________ Poner  _________ Querer  ________ Estar  _________ Venir _________ Decir _________ Andar _________ Give the preterit endings that go with the above verbs. Yo ________ Nosotros ________ Tú ________ Él/Ella/Ud. ________ Ellos/Ellas/Uds. ________ tuv pus vin hic quis dij pud estuv anduv imos ieron e iste o

Write all six preterit tense forms of the following verbs:   estar hacer poner Yo ________________ ______________ ___________________ Tú ________________ ______________ ___________________ Él/Ella Ud. ________________ ______________ ___________________ Nosotros ________________ ______________ ___________________ Ellos/Ellas/Uds. ________________ ______________ ___________________ tener poder venir andar querer decir estuve estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvieron hice hiciste hizo hicimos hicieron puse pusiste puso pusimos pusieron pude pudiste pudo pudimos pudieron vine viniste vino vinimos vinieron tuve tuviste tuvo tuvimos tuvieron anduve anduviste anduvo anduvimos anduvieron quise quisiste quiso quisimos quisieron dije dijiste dijo dijimos dijeron