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El imperfecto was taking place, was happening in the past, but the starting and ending points arent mentioned or arent important.
time line
Naci mi hermano. [once] Empec la escuela en la clase de la Seorita Gordon [once]. Cambi a una nueva escuela [once]. Mi ta Brbara se cas.
..Cuando yo era nia --When I was a kid.. [when did I start? when did I stop?]
El imperfecto
The speaker explains what was happening; the starting and ending points or duration either arent known or dont matter. Vivan en una casa en el desierto. They were living / used to live in a house in the desert. (When? for how long?) (They dont live there anymore but the house, or at least the desert, still exist.) The speaker is emphasizing the repetitive nature of an action [would always, used to. etc] Todos en el grupo llevaban pantalones cortos anaranjados. Everyone in the group would wear / used to wear orange shorts.
2+ verbos en el pasado
When you have more than 2 verbs in the past tense in one sentence, there are a few conditions that usually exist.
Knowing this conditions will help you to write longer and more sophisticated sentences en espaol.
2+ pretritos
A sentence with 2 or more preterit verbs will be a list or series of actions.
Me duch, me vest, prepar mi almuerzo, bes a mi esposo, busqu mis cosas para el trabajo y sal de mi casa a las 7:25.
2 imperfectos
Often indicates that 2 actions were happening at the same time in the past.
The word MIENTRAS [while, meanwhile], which may start the sentence or come between the 2 actions, is a big hint.
Ella dorma mientras su amiga limpiaba la casa. Mientras vivan en Costa Rica trabajaban en un hotel de ecoturismo. If the word mientras isnt present, youre probably dealing with 2 types of descriptions, or something else from the DATAWA list. Cuando ellas eran nias nunca llevaban vestidos. Haca fro en mi oficina ayer pero ella tena calor.
1 pretrito + 1 imperfecto
The imperfect indicates an action that WAS HAPPENING when the preterit INTERRUPTED.
The person was skiing (action in progress) and then fell (once, since action.)
He was washing the dishes (in progress) but he broke two (completed action.)
comer dormirse
The puppy was eating (in progress) and fell asleep (once, completed.)
imperfecto: D description A age T time A action in progress (-ing) W weather reference to the day, time and place A actions repeated, habits where this happened description of the weather, place Hand them in when done; make and the people involved sure everyones name is on description of what was happening them. (acts in progress) what happened (completed actions) the end of the story
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Extra episodio 9 vocab If you were going to translate, which form would you use?--HANDOUT