Conjugación del imperfecto
Conjugate "hablar" in the ellos/ellas/ustedes form.
"hablaban."
Conjugate "comprar" in the yo form.
"compré"
Translate and explain why this sentence is preterite or imperfect.
"Yo bailaba."
"I used to dance."
Imperfect tense - Key words "used to".
Ayer yo ( fui / iba ) al supermercado.
Ayer yo fui al supermercado.
Ayer is the clue!
Imperfect is used to describe on-going actions and states of being in the past, e.g. expressing habitual actions or what used to happen.
True!
Conjugate "tener" in the yo form.
"tenía."
Conjugate "comer" in the tú form.
"comiste"
Translate and explain why this sentence is preterite or imperfect.
"Fui a una fiesta la semana pasada."
"I went to a party last week."
Preterite tense - Completed event in the past.
Cuando era niño, siempre (jugué / jugaba) en el parque.
Cuando era niño, siempre jugaba en el parque.
siempre is the clue!
Imperfect is used for actions that have no definite beginning or end.
True!
Conjugate "ser" in the tú form.
"eras"
Conjugate "ir" in the nosotros form.
"fuimos"
Translate and explain why this sentence is preterite or imperfect.
"Ayer hacía mucho frío."
"Yesterday it was very cold."
Imperfect tense - weather
Un día, mi padre (tuvo / tenía) un accidente de coche.
Un día, mi padre tuvo un accidente de coche.
Un día is the clue!
Preterite is used to describe actions or events that don't have a specific beginning or end, while imperfect describes completed actions.
False! It's the other way around.
Conjugate "ver" in the ellos/ellas/ustedes form.
"veían"
Conjugate "tener" in the él/ella/usted form.
"tuvo"
Translate and explain why this sentence is preterite or imperfect.
"La niña tenía 2 años."
"The girl was 2 years old."
Imperfect tense - Describing past age.
Eran las ocho de la noche y (hizo / hacía) frío cuando ella llegó.
Eran las ocho de la noche y hacía frío cuando ella llegó.
The weather is the clue!
The verb "estudiar" in the nosotros form uses different endings in the preterite and present tenses.
False! It's the same ending for regular -ar verbs: estudiamos
Conjugate "ir" in the nosotros form.
"Íbamos."
Conjugate "empezar" in the yo form.
"empecé"
Translate and explain why this sentence is preterite or imperfect. (2)
"Mientras dormía, ella me llamó."
"While I was sleeping, she called me."
Imprefect tense - No definite beginning/end, background.
Preterite tense - Interruption.
Yo (leí / leía) un libro cuando mi amigo me (llamó / llamaba) por teléfono.
Yo leía un libro cuando mi amigo me llamó por teléfono.
For interrupting actions, the thing you were doing is in the imperfect, and the thing that interupts is in the preterite.
Focus on the start of weather is imperfect, ¿Cierto o Falso?
¡FALSO!
The focus of the start of an action is preterite, in this case, that action is weather!
"it started raining" --> empezó a llover
"it was raining" --> llovía