Preterite vs. Imperfect
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
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
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.
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.
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
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