Preterite vs.

Imperfect

The preterite and the imperfect are both past tenses in Spanish.

The preterite is used in the following situations:

To talk about a series of past events. Ex. Me levant ! me ba" ! # fui al colegio. To talk about the beginning and the ending of a past occurrence. Ex. $a pel%cula empe&' a las dos. To talk about things that are completed. Ex. $a pel%cula termin' a las cuatro.

The preterite is used to talk about things that onl# happened once in the past.

(se the following acron#m to determine if #ou need to use the imperfect. )*age Ex. Ella ten%a + a"os. $*location*Ellos estaban en ,irginia. -*-eather* .ac%a calor. E*Emotion*/o estaba triste. P*Ph#sical0Personalit#01haracteristics*/o era alta. T*Time* Eran las ocho.

The imperfect is also used to describe : .abitual actions in the past. 2escribe a past event without reference to it ending. To talk about an action that was ongoing in the past while another action was going on simultaneousl#.