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Imperfect
Which past tense should I use?
You use a verb in the preterit when you want to express that the event that
occurred was ACPA. A Completed Past Action
So basically, you’d use the Imperfect any other time you want to talk about
something in the past…anything that is NOT a main event/main action.
Use the Imperfect when you “set the scene,” because a description is
not an action, so it can’t be preterit. (The house was white. The sky was
grey. It was 9:00. The dog was cute. We were happy. Nothing “happened”
in those sentences.)
The Imperfect is used to give background info/set the scene for a story:
~Age
Tenía 12 años cuando robé el primer I was 12 (IMP) when I stole (PRET--
coche (carro). ACPA) my first car.
~Weather
Hacía buen tiempo cuando me It was good weather (IMP) when they
arrestaron. arrested me. (PRET--ACPA)
~Time
When people “set a scene” describing what they were doing, what time it
was, or what was going on around them, you will use the IMPERFECT. For,
example, if you are about to tell a friend what happened to you in the mall
yesterday, you will begin by first describing the scene: where you were,
what was going on around you, what people were in the middle of doing.
This is all described in the Imperfect.
Some students find it helpful to use a Mnemonic Device such as this one to
remember the situations where one would use the Imperfect: