{"id":136125,"date":"2024-02-26T18:04:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T23:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/spanish-preterite-and-imperfect\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T15:40:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T20:40:20","slug":"spanish-preterite-and-imperfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/spanish\/spanish-preterite-and-imperfect\/","title":{"rendered":"Preterite vs Imperfect in Spanish"},"content":{"rendered":"

When talking about the simple past in Spanish, you have two main choices: the preterite<\/strong> and the imperfect\u00a0<\/strong>tense.<\/p>\n

The conjugations and usages are slightly different, causing many learners confusion.<\/p>\n

The essential difference to know is that the preterite is used for past actions that are fully completed and were done once at a specific time<\/strong> and the imperfect is for actions that were repeatedly performed in a past period of time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read on to find out the key differences between preterite versus the imperfect in Spanish, their conjugations, how to use each and what words usually trigger each tense.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

The Difference Between the Preterite and the Imperfect<\/h2>\n

As stated above, both the preterite and past imperfect tenses describe actions that happened in the past.<\/p>\n

The main difference is that the preterite tense describes completed actions that happened at a specific time<\/strong>, whereas the past imperfect tense is used for actions that don’t have a specific ending<\/strong> (such as habitual actions).<\/p>\n

Here’s the verb endings for these tenses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Subject<\/th>Preterite<\/th>Past Imperfect<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Yo<\/i><\/td>-\u00e9, -\u00ed<\/i><\/td>-ab, -\u00eda<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
T\u00fa<\/i><\/td>-aste, -iste<\/i><\/td>-abas, -\u00edas<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00c9l\/ella\/usted<\/i><\/td>-\u00f3, -i\u00f3<\/i><\/td>-aba, -\u00eda<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nosotros<\/i><\/td>-amos, -imos<\/i><\/td>-\u00e1bamos, -\u00edamos<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vosotros<\/i><\/td>-asteis, -isteis<\/i><\/td>-abais, -\u00edais<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ellos\/ellas\/ustedes<\/i><\/td>-aron, -ieron<\/i><\/td>-aban, -\u00edan<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

For example:<\/p>\n

Yo fui<\/strong> a la playa ayer.<\/em> (I went to the beach yesterday.)<\/p>\n

This verb is in the preterite tense because the action (going to the beach) happened once, at a specific time\u2014yesterday.<\/p>\n

Yo iba<\/strong> a la playa cuando viv\u00eda<\/strong> en M\u00e9xico.<\/em> (I used to go to the beach when I lived in Mexico.)<\/p>\n

This sentence uses\u00a0iba<\/em> instead of\u00a0fui<\/em> because “going to the beach” was a routine (or habitual) past action. And\u00a0viv\u00eda<\/em> (I lived) is in the imperfect tense as well because I lived in Mexico for an ongoing, unspecified amount of time.<\/p>\n

The Preterite Tense in Spanish<\/h2>\n

As we said above, the preterite tense is used for completed actions in the past.<\/p>\n

When to Use the Preterite Tense<\/h3>\n

1. One-time events and completed actions that took place\/started and<\/em> finished at a specific moment<\/em> in the past<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mi hermano volvi\u00f3<\/strong> a las 8.<\/em> (My brother came back at 8:00.)<\/p>\n

Ayer com\u00ed<\/strong> manzanas.<\/em>\u00a0(I ate some apples yesterday.)<\/p>\n

2. Completed actions that took place a specific number of times or happened during a certain time period<\/strong><\/p>\n

La semana pasada fui<\/strong> de compras tres veces.<\/em>\u00a0(I went shopping three times last week.)<\/p>\n

Anoche me despert\u00e9<\/strong> dos veces.<\/em>\u00a0(I woke up twice last night.)<\/p>\n

3. When you need to talk about actions that took place during a specific time period, but are not taking place anymore<\/strong><\/p>\n

Me le\u00ed<\/strong> ese libro en tres d\u00edas.<\/em>\u00a0(I read that book in three days.)<\/p>\n

Viv\u00ed<\/strong> en Barcelona durante siete meses.<\/em>\u00a0(I lived in Barcelona for seven months.)<\/p>\n

4. With the imperfect when describing situations that changed overnight<\/strong><\/p>\n

Estaba soltero hasta que un d\u00eda conoc\u00ed<\/strong> a Mar\u00eda.<\/em>\u00a0(I was single until one day I met Mar\u00eda.)<\/p>\n

No quer\u00eda tener hijos pero de un d\u00eda para el otro cambi\u00e9<\/strong> de opini\u00f3n.<\/em>\u00a0(I did not want to have children, but I changed my mind overnight.)<\/p>\n

5. When describing actions that were part of a chain of events<\/strong><\/p>\n

Me duch\u00e9<\/strong>, desayun\u00e9<\/strong> y me fui<\/strong> al trabajo.<\/em>\u00a0(I took a shower, had breakfast and went to work.)<\/p>\n

Abri\u00f3<\/strong> la carta, la ley\u00f3<\/strong> y la tir\u00f3<\/strong> a la basura.<\/em>\u00a0(He opened the letter, read it and threw it into the trash.)<\/p>\n

Preterite Tense Trigger Words<\/h3>\n

There are several words and phrases that show you must use the preterite tense when they appear in a sentence. They are:<\/p>\n