FHUHS Spanish

Preterite vs. Imperfect in Spanish

There are two past tenses in Spanish: the preterite (pretérito), and the imperfect (imperfecto). While they are both used to express or discuss actions in the past, they are not interchangeable. The distinction between their usage is generally quite clear with only the occasional case where the distinction is subtle.

The Imperfect

The imperfect tense is sometimes described as the “was/were _______ing”, or “used to _____” tense. The imperfect is used whenever the speaker intends to focus upon the ongoing or habitual nature of the action in the past.

Descriptions rendered in the past are generally in the imperfect since the focus is on how something appeared with no emphasis on how it came to be or resulted. For the same reason, the imperfect is used to describe background information to a subsequent or interrupting action.

It would be difficult to map imperfect actions onto a time line because what is important is not the beginning or ending of an action in the past, or specific points in time.

The Preterite

The preterite tense is used when the intent of the speaker is to highlight the “perfected” beginning or “perfected” ending of an action in the past. It is also used when describing an action which took place for a specific amount of time in the past. After a description of background information (in the imperfect), the preterite is used for the interrupting action, or to list a series of actions which then took place.

If you were to map preterite actions onto a history timeline, they would appear as individual points along the line.