el imperfecto
The best way to remember the endings for verbs in the imperfect
"I put out the fire"
"Apagué el incendio"
"good manners"
"buenos modales"
es algo que pasa cada año
el aniversario
"without a doubt"
"sin duda"
Why and when you would want to use the imperfect
What is
-continuing, ongoing, background actions,
-without any specifice beginning or end,
-often corresponds to "used to" or "was [--]ing" in English
"the lady firefighter rescued the cat"
"la bombera rescató el gato"
"I used to write letters to Santa Claus"
"Escribía cartas a Papá Noel"
[daily double visual]
[ ]
"I crossed the street"
"yo crucé la calle"
"there was a flood"
"había una inundación"
"I laughed"
"me reí"
"she turned 12"
"ella cumplió 12 años"
"there were statues on the bridge"
"había estatuas en el puente"
Every day for a year, "my mom drove me to school"
"mi mamá me conducía a la escuela"
"there was an earthquake"
"hubo un terremoto"
"My uncle used to tell jokes"
"mi tío contaba chistes"
"Of course!" --> two ways to say it
"¡Claro que sí!"
"¡Por supuesto!"
"¡Claro!"
"¡Desde luego!"
"Me despedí"
"They were alive!"
"¡Estaban vivos!
"the furniture burnt up"
"los muebles se quemaron"
"I shook hands with my uncle"
"yo le dí la mano a mi tío"
"It was raining when there was an accident"
"Llovía cuando hubo un accidente"
"She was very sociable, and she chatted all night long"
"Era sociable, y charló toda la noche"