For Visual Learners

If you're still having trouble with the imperfect and the preterite, sometimes it can be advantageous to imagine a timeline. On the right side is the present (we'll ignore the future for now). Toward the left is the past.

If you know with any certainty when the action happened, you should be able to pinpoint on the timeline (with an arrow) exactly when it happened. For example:

On Saturday his friend went to the baseball game.

On the other hand, if you find it difficult to pin down, you may have to indicate only an indefinite range (with a squiggly line) of the action. For example:

His friend was a good baseball player.

So, what good does this do us? Whenever you would draw an arrow you should use the preterite; whenever you would draw a squiggly line you should use the imperfect. Like this:

El sábado su amigo fue al partido de béisbol. Su amigo era un buen jugador de béisbol.

One more example:

Esperanza broke her arm when she was a girl.

This sentence has two verbs which will both go on the timeline: "Esperanza broke her arm" and "Esperanza was a girl." One of the verbs was a one-time event, the other was a situation with an indefinite time frame so we'll use both an arrow and a squiggly line.

Therefore: Esperanza rompió su brazo cuando era niña. Two Yeses…NOT my Fav! 1. Can you put it in your daily journal? 2. Was the action finished at the moment we were referring to?

Thursday 8th of June I lived in Mexico City We really wanted to see the world We went to England where I learned to read and write. Two weeks ago while she was running she fell and broke her arm

Preterite: Precise…definite beginning and end

Preterite: Finished actions Sequences of events: I opened the door, I went outside, I got in the car, I drove to the store…

Imperfect: Habits, used to, would Descriptions: time, weather, age, Uncompleted actions

You will use the Imperfect to set the scene:Describing what your house or dog used to look like and what your family was like. Think of looking at a photograph and describing the people in it and what they were doing. Since the photograph is static, the people in it can't start doing something different. So you can only describe the scene you see. OR When you are describing what people were doing (in the process of doing) or used to do or when you describe what it was like when you arrived at the party last night.

However, the stories that occur within these settings happen in the Preterite!

For example, let's set a scene: Eran las nueve de la noche. Era viernes. Hacía mal tiempo. Llovía. Todos estábamos en casa. Mamá y Papá miraban la televisión; yo leía una novela de StarTrek; mi hermana hablaba por teléfono con su novio en su cuarto. Esnupi (nuestro perro) dormía detrás del sillón en la sala.

But now let's get to the action: De repente, ¡Entró un ladrón! Pasó por la escalera y caminó hasta la recámara de mis padres. Miró en el cuarto cuando oyó la voz de mi hermana. Se volvió y bajó las escaleras. Trató de huir de la casa, pero Esnupi se despertó y mordió la pierna del ladrón.

This is a series of actions in the Preterite which happened within the setting established by the Imperfect. Try this:

Description-ALWEPT Action: OHS

A--Age O--Ongoing

L--Location H--Habitual

W--Weather S-Simultaneous

E--Emothional/Mental state

P--Physical/Personality

T--Telling time or Date

Imperfect vs. Preterite: A Final Note

One of the reasons learning when to use the preterite or the imperfect is so difficult is that it's not an exact science. Sometimes you can switch from one tense to the other without substantially changing the meaning of the sentence. Other times you'll completely change the meaning. There may be times when reading Spanish that you won't be able to tell why the author used the conjugation he or she did because it won't seem to follow any of the rules. Just roll with it. As you get more and more used to reading Spanish you'll be able to pick up on the subtle nuances that let you know why a verb is conjugated the way it is.