Preterite or Imperfect?

Pretérito

100

What are the verb endings for AR verbs in the preterite? Demonstrate using the verb CANTAR.

canté                          cantamos

cantaste                     cantasteis

cantó                          cantaron

200

What are the verb endings for IR and ER verbs in the preterite? Use either BEBER or VIVIR to demonstrate.

bebí/viví                      bebimos/vivimos

bebiste/viviste            bebisteis/vivisteis

bebió/vivió                  bebieron/vivieron

300

Yo _________ (caminar) al parque.

caminé

'I walked to the park'

400

(Tú) ¿___________ (comer) todas las galletas?

comiste

'You ate all the cookies?'

500

Todos nosotros ____________ (dormir/bailar) en una sola cama.

dormimos

'We all sleep in only one bed.'

Imperfecto

100

What are -abas and -ías? What verbs do they correspond to?

-abas are the imperfect endings for AR verbs

-ías and the imperfect endings for IR and ER verbs

200

Conjugate CANTAR/BEBER/ and VIVIR in the Imperfect

cantaba              bebía             vivía

cantabas             bebías           vivías

cantaba              bebía             vivía

cantabamos        bebíamos       vivíamos

cantabais            bebíais          vivíais

cantaban            bebían           vivían

300

Juan _________ (estar) enfermo la semana pasada.

estaba

'Juan was sick last week'

400

Ellos __________ (comer/beber) pizza todos los dias.

comían

'They used to eat pizza everyday'

500

________ (Estar/Hacer) sol en el día de mi cumpleaños.

Hacía

Pretérito o Imperfecto

100

to describe a situation, a setting or a person in the past

imperfect

We use the imperfect to describe "background information"

200

to say something occurred in a specific moment

preterite

singluar completed events are always preterite

300

to say an action took place at a within a specific amount of time

i.e for 2 hours, for 6 weeks, for 10 years

preterite

Even though the time may have a long range, these are still considered "finite" actions because they did not go on forever. We know exactly how long the event lasted and its over now.

400

to tell the time in the past

imperfect.

Similar to background information. The same goes for age.

500

an action that interrupts another action in the past.

1. the action

2. the interrupting action

1. imperfect (I was doing this...)

2. preterite (when THIS happened.)

Estudiaba cuando el telefono soñó

I was studying when the phone rang.

Traducción

100

Fui al mercado para comprar unas manzanaz

I went (preterite) to the market to buy some apples.

200

Hicimos la tarea en solo veinte minutos

We did (preterite) the homework in only 20 minutes.

300

Era la una cuando finalmente Marco llegó.

It was (imp.) 1:00 by the time Marco arrived(pret.)

400

Iban a ir al parque pero me sentía poca enferma.

We were going(imp.) to go to the park but I was feeling(imp.) a bit sick.

500

Estabamos practicando por el espectácoulo (performance/show) cuando Ana nos dio que ya no quería participar.

We were practicing (imp.) for the show when Ana told (pret.) us she didn't want (imp.) to participate anymore.

Translation

100

Last night, I ate breakfast for dinner.

Anoche, comí (pret.) el desayuno para la cena.

200

I used to play baseball every Saturday.

Yo jugaba (imp.) al béisbol cada sábado.  

300

When I was young, I liked horses.

Cuando era(imp.) niña, me gustaban(imp.) los caballos.

400

Juana and Alberto were talking about the movie when I arrived at the office.

Juana y Alberto hablaban (imp) de la película cuando llegué (pret.) a la oficina.
 

500

Then, Jessica started to play (tocar) the music.

Entonces, Jessia empezó (pret.) a tocar la musica.