In Spanish, we have two main past tenses that we use. They are
the preterite and the imperfect.
Use the following information to help you learn the difference between
these two verb tenses.
El Pretérito
The preterite is used for what we can "concrete events." This means that
the event has a clear beginning and ending.
Example uses of the preterite include:
Events that happened yesterday, last week, last year, etc.
Events that can only occur once (birth, death, etc.)
Events in a list of actions (such as your daily tasks)
El Imperfecto
The imperfect is used for events that do not have a clear beginning and
ending point. It is also used for repeated, or habitual, actions in the
past.
Example uses of the preterite include:
Habitual or repeated events (Every year we went to, Every week we did
this, etc.)
Ongoing actions that are interrupted (I was walking when I
tripped and fell)
;