#preterito

So this is going to be just a quick overview of preterite and imperfect, and I'll include more links now for more in depth things that you can look at because I talk about them very often

Preterite tag

Imperfect tag

The Perfect Tenses w/ haber

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In many cases preterite and imperfect are both valid choices, depending on what you're trying to express: leí "I read" vs. leía "I was reading / I used to read" as an example

Preterite in Spanish is also known as "simple past"; it's used for things that have definitely happened. By "definitely" I mean there's often a time phrase associated with it that says "this happened at this time"

It typically is action or something that did specifically happen, so it can read as very clinical and matter of fact

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Imperfect on the other hand has more uses. The linguistic term "imperfect" means "not yet completed"

Imperfect is often used with narration and description, describing the weather, the time, personalities

But the big thing that I find helpful is that in general the imperfect tense seems to be narration, while the preterite seems to be an interruption or action.

Whether you choose preterite or imperfect in some cases is more about how much description you're giving, as imperfect gives you a scenario, while preterite shows an action taking place in that scenario.

Dormía y entonces sonó el teléfono. = I was sleeping and then the phone rang. Dormía mientras sonaba el teléfono. = I was sleeping while the phone was ringing. [implying "I" didn't wake up] Dormí y sonó el teléfono. = I slept, and the phone rang. [two preterites imply a list of actions, like recalling a memory

The other very important function of imperfect tense is that it can mean "used to"; this can be done with or without the verb soler "to be in the habit of"

*Quick note on soler; it can't exist in preterite, it's usually in present tense suele ir a la playa "he/she normally goes to the beach" or imperfect solía ir a la playa "he/she would go to the beach". Because the imperfect tense can mean multiple things depending on context, soler adds a special bit of emphasis on "used to" to clear up any confusion:

Iba a la playa. = I was going to the beach. [imperfect continuous/progessive] Iba a la playa. = I used to go the beach. [imperfect, marking habitual] Solía ir a la playa. = I used to go to the beach. [habitual; soler being a clear marker of habitual]

Another common one is vivir. You could say vivía en la ciudad to mean "I lived in the city" OR "I used to live in the city", but if you wanted to be very clear - solía vivir en la ciudad "I used to live in the city"

Additional Notes:

You can only tell time in the past with imperfect - era la una, eran las dos, eran las tres etc

You can do the passive voice with preterite + past participle, and it only works with preterite here

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The perfect tenses are a bit of a special case. I never know quite how to classify them because they can be in pretty much any tense, and they exist in indicative and subjunctive

Essentially though, "perfect" means "thoroughly done"; the same linguistic root as "imperfect" being "not yet completed"

Perfect tenses use a conjugation of haber + a past participle, and some past participles are irregular... as an example hacer "to done" turns into hecho "done"

Past participles are useful to know because they're also frequently the adjectival forms of verbs... like haber roto "to have broken", but then as an adjective roto/a is "broken"

Perfect puts things a little into the past, but it still has an effect on the present. So it is technically like a past tense, but it can be used alongside other tenses when things still have an impact

English has this same function - it's the difference between "did" and "have done"

Note: Many people use present perfect in place of preterite [simple past]. I wouldn't recommend it if you're just starting out because you shouldn't use it as a crutch, and preterite has many irregular forms you do need to know for later on

¿La viste? = Did you see her/it? ¿La has visto? = Have you seen her/it?

In that example, pretty much nothing has changed. If you use the preterite you typically would expect an answer in preterite, describing the past, la vi ayer "I saw her/it yesterday" or no la vi "I didn't see it/her" for example

If you get asked "have you seen her?" you're asking about something that still has an impact on the present... no la he visto aún "I haven't seen her yet" for example has an implication that you might see her later. Or la he visto "I have seen her" kind of invites a follow-up question; it's almost as if you know someone is going to ask you where you saw her or when, or where she is now

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Next we have pluperfect [el pluscuamperfecto] which is an imperfect conjugation of haber + past participle

"Pluperfect" or "pluscuamperfect" is more or less "past-er than past", or "more than past"

It's talking about something that happened further in the past but still has an impact on the present situation. You see this a lot with recounting memories so it comes up a lot in first-person stories, diaries, memories, witness statements etc.

No la había visto. = I hadn't seen her. La había visto antes. = I had seen her before. Nunca habíamos viajado en avión. = We had never flown (before). [lit. "we had never traveled by plane"] Se habían hecho ricos. = They'd gotten rich. / They'd become rich. Se habían hecho ricas. = They [f] had gotten rich. / They [f] had become rich.

But if you compare present perfect and pluperfect you really see the "more past than past"

No se conocen. = They don't know each other. [present] No se conocían. = They didn't know each other. [imperfect] No se conocieron. = They didn't meet each other. [preterite] No se conocerán. = They shall not know each other. / They will not meet each other. [future] No se conocerían. = They wouldn't know/meet each other. [conditional] No se han conocido. = They haven't met each other. [present perfect] No se habían conocido. = They hadn't met each other. [pluperfect] No se habrán conocido. = They won't have met each other. [future perfect] No se habrían conocido. = They wouldn't have met each other. [conditional]

*Note: no se habrán conocido is not a super common expression but it is grammatically possible... you're more likely to see that used passively like "they shall not be known" or "you would never have known" as in "they would not have been discovered"... but that's neither here nor there

And like I said, perfect can exist in subjunctive so:

¡Hola!

According to grammar, the pretérito indefinido is something that happened once in the past and the action is finished. The pretérito perfecto is something that happened in the past and is still related to the present.

But the truth is that in everyday conversations people don’t really follow this rule strictly, and it depends on the country. I’ve heard that in Spain they use more the pretérito perfecto, but still they have some regions as Galicia where they don’t use it because of Galician language influence. In Mexico and many other Latin American countries we use more the pretérito indefinido, and we use the pretérito perfecto for more specific things (when we really want to specify that the past action has connection with the present).

So, for example if I say:

Hoy compré unos libros. - Today I bought some books.

Hoy he comprado unos libros. - Today I have bought some books.

The meaning of these two sentences is exactly the same. But in Mexico most people would say the first one (because the action is finished) and in Spain most people would use the second one (because “hoy” is still the present).

It also depends on the speaker and her subjective perception of time. For example:

Esta semana fui al cine. - This week I went to the movies.

Esta semana he ido al cine. - This week I have gone to the movies.

The first sentence sounds like the person is not going to the movies again this week or that the person is talking at the end of her week, probably Sunday night. The second sentence keeps the possibility of going to the movies again this week, or that the week hasn’t finished yet.

We also use the pretérito perfecto to talk about experiences. For example:

¿Has visto esta película? - Have you watched this movie?

I think in this case we use it because we don’t know the answer and we are referring to a whole person’s life, at least from the movie’s release date until now.

But if we ask:¿Viste esta película? - Did you watch this movie?

We are referring to a specific period of time. Maybe you are talking about the last time you went to the movies, or the movie that was shown at school last week.

However, we don’t use the pretérito perfecto when we say:

Ayer fui al banco. - Yesterday I went to the bank.Ayer he ido al banco. - Yesterday I have gone to the bank. (X)

La semana pasada estudié para mi examen. - Last week I studied for my exam.La semana pasada he estudiado para mi examen. - Last week I have studied for my exam. (X)

I think it even sounds incorrect in English. Because “ayer” or “la semana pasada” are not related to the present, they’re gone.

I hope this answers your question. If you want to know more about past tenses here’s a link to one of my previous posts.

I had to look those up because at first I thought you were talking about preterite and imperfect.

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So, I'm going to link my things to the preterite or simple past [I know it's called pretérito indefinido but I always think they mean the imperfect idk]

I've written a lot about it usually in reference to preterite vs imperfect, but overall the simple past is the easiest of the past tenses

It's used for completed actions, or things you're talking about or that happened at a specific time/place.

https://spanishskulduggery.tumblr.com/tagged/preterite has the majority of my things I've answered on the preterite tense.

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As for the perfect tenses, I assume you're asking about the present perfect but, just as a quick discussion:

In linguistic senses, "perfect" means "completed"

The perfect tenses are used as a bridge between the past and the present, in my opinion, using haber conjugations + past participles to talk about something that has/had/would have been done... something that still impacts the present situation

In most situations, simple past and present perfect can be used almost interchangeably, with sometimes the perfect tenses being used more than simple past. For what I call "present perfect" you use the present tense conjugations of haber + past participles

Hablé. = I spoke. He hablado. = I have spoken.

Di. = I gave. He dado. = I have given.

Volví. = I returned. / I came back. He vuelto. = I have returned.

In the case of the perfect tenses, there's still an impact happening on the present situation. It's something that "was done" but it could have an effect on what's still happening.

Lo pensé. = I thought about it.

Lo he pensado. = I've thought about it.

If I heard lo he pensado I would think maybe the person hasn't made up their mind yet. If I saw lo pensé to me it seems like they made a decision already.

It sounds very much like in English. That's why I say they feel like they form a bridge.

Okay so bare bones overview

Spanish has two tenses for past tense - preterite and imperfect

Preterite is the easy one. It’s used as simple past. Things that are completed and totally finished and specifically things with set time phrases use the preterite. These are the “action” parts of a sentence in the past

Me senté en el sofá. = I sat down on the sofa.

Leí el poema. = I read the poem.

Hablaron con ellas. = They spoke with them (f). Hablaron con ellos. = They spoke with them (m+m, m+f).

No me lo dijeron. = They didn’t tell me (it).

Volví a la oficina. = I returned to the office.

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Imperfect tense is more complicated for English-speakers. This is typically the confusing one because English doesn’t have the clear distinction.

I find it most helpful to think of what “imperfect” means linguistically. The term “perfect” means “thoroughly done”, while “imperfect” means “not yet completed fully”

In that sense, imperfect is more typically narrative, description, describing things that “were” happening. 

Me sentaba en el sofá. = I was sitting on the sofa.

Leía el poema. = I was reading the poem.

Hablaban con ellas. = They were speaking with them (f). Hablaban con ellos. = They were speaking with them (m+m, m+f).

No me lo decían. = They weren’t telling me (it).

Volvía a la oficina. = I was going back to the office.

These work more narratively and set the scene. They typically introduce the situation, while preterite is often an interruption of action - the thing that actually happens.

Me sentaba en el sofá cuando sonó el timbre. = I was sitting on the sofa when the doorbell rang.

Estaba durmiendo cuando me llamaron. = I was sleeping when they called me.

Pagamos la cuenta mientras estábamos en el restaurante. = We paid the bill while we were in the restaurant.

Note: Telling time is always done in imperfect and most time expressions are done that way

Era la una. = It was one o’clock.

Ya era hora. = It was high time. / Now was the time. [as in “this was the moment.”]

Eran las siete de la mañana. = It was seven o’clock in the morning.

For weather, it can depend. It’s normally imperfect, but it can be preterite in some situations. Normally preterite weather expressions have a specific time frame in mind.

Hacía mucho frío. = It was really cold outside. Hizo mucho frío ayer. = It was really cold yesterday.

Hacía viento. = It was windy. Hizo viento el viernes. = It was windy on Friday.

Hacía calor. = It was hot. El agosto pasado hizo mucho calor. = Last August was really hot.

This weather one is very particular because with preterite it sounds like you’re saying “the entire time”, while imperfect is just a description that may or may not have been completed. 

It’s very normally imperfect with the weather, but it is something to keep in mind.

Another very important function of the imperfect tense is “used to”. This can be done with the imperfect tense, or with soler in the imperfect tense [soler doesn’t exist in preterite at all for this reason]. 

In present tense, soler means “to be in the habit of” or “to do often”, but in imperfect in comes out as “used to”

Llovía. = It was raining. / It used to rain. Solía llover. = It used to rain. [“used to” imperfect only]

Tocaba el piano. = I was playing the piano. / I used to play the piano. Solía tocar el piano. = I used to play the piano. [“used to” imperfect only]

Hablábamos con la vecina. = We were speaking to the neighbor. / We used to speak to the neighbor. Solíamos hablar con la vecina. = We used to speak to the neighbor. [“used to” imperfect only]

Iban a la playa. = They were going to the beach. / They used to go to the beach. Solían ir a la playa. = They used to go to the beach. [“used to” imperfect only]

The hard part of imperfect is deciding how something should be read in English

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There’s also some special cases with preterite/imperfect.

Normally, most sentences could be either with the meaning changing slightly like “was eating” vs. “ate”

But there are particular verbs where the meaning will drastically change depending on which one you choose. It’s a more involved topic since it can be difficult to fully explain but I’ll just list the verbs and what they normally mean:

querer in imperfect = “wanted” [what you normally want] querer in preterite = “tried/attempted to”

no querer in imperfect = “didn’t want” [what you normally want] no querer in preterite = “refused to”

conocer in imperfect = “knew (someone/something)”, “used to know” conocer in preterite = “met, became acquainted with”

saber in imperfect = “knew (facts)”, “had knowledge of” saber in preterite = “found out”, “discovered”, “learned of”

poder in imperfect = “was able to”, “could” [what you normally want] poder in preterite = “was successful in doing”, “managed to do” [And by consequence no poder is “couldn’t” as in “did not have the ability” in imperfect, but in preterite it comes out as “failed to do” or “was unsuccessful”]

The other verbs to watch are tener and haber

tener is the wildcard because preterite tener usually means “to physically have” as in “to obtain”. The problem is that there are a lot of expressions that use tener like tener hambre “to be hungry” etc. It’s normally imperfect tener you want, but it’s a case by case basis.

And haber is a style change. Imperfect haber means “there was/were” in an everyday way... haber in preterite is “there was/were” in a shocking way. 

Using haber in preterite is typically reserved for reporting on things out of the ordinary and particularly accidents, deaths, and disasters:

Había comida. = There was food.

Hubo un terremoto. = There was an earthquake.

Había mucha lluvia. = There was a lot of rain. [not serious] Hubo mucha lluvia. = There was a lot of rain. [serious, reads like it was a disaster]

This one can also depend on the mood of the sentence, but particularly in journalism you’ll see hubo un accidente “there was an accident”, hubo un robo “there was a robbery”, or hubo un maremoto “there was a tsunami”

Using hubo can happen for specific time phrases like the weather though so keep that in mind, but usually hubo marks a more serious tone

In everyday Spanish, imperfect haber is more common. And using imperfect with haber is what you use when using the perfect tenses:

He hablado con ella. = I’ve spoken with her. [present perfect] Había hablado con ella. = I’d spoken with her. [pluperfect]

Hemos hecho el proyecto. = We have done the project. [present perfect] Habíamos hecho el proyecto. = We had done the project. [pluperfect]

Han dicho la verdad. = They have told the truth. [present perfect] Habían dicho la verdad. = They had told the truth. [pluperfect]

In general, without context, it is ambiguous for Spanish because in most cases both are valid but they mean different things

The imperfect tense is the one that's harder to understand for English speakers, but it's used for actions that have not yet been completed or actions that don't have a clear ending. The term "imperfect" means "not yet completed" in Spanish [as opposed to the "perfect" tenses in Spanish where they mean "past" or "completed"]

This can be confusing in some contexts, but the idea is that the imperfect is narrative and I try to translate it as continuous past "was doing" something, because that makes a clearer distinction for me personally. Preterite is just simple past

Leía. = I was reading.

Leí. = I read. [past tense]

Imperfect tense in this particular sense seems to indicate a setup for something. It's narration or description, but it's not a specific action. We don't know exactly when it ends, though it did happen in the past and may still be continuing.

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The other way that imperfect is used is to mean "used to". This can be done with the modal verb soler as well and it would mean the same thing, but imperfect does carry the meaning of "used to"

These are cases when you're describing an action that would happen at some point, or would happen multiple times. Describing a past tendency really:

Iba a la playa. = I was going to the beach. / I used to go to the beach.

Iba a la playa mucho cuando era más joven. = I used to go to the beach a lot when I was younger. / I would go to the beach a lot when I was younger.

It depends on your context, because iba a la playa could just be regular narration to describe when something happens. OR it could be that "used to" idea. When you're being emphatic about it, you're likely to see solía ir a la playa "I used to go to the beach" which is all it could mean

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Preterite on the other hand is simple past. Some places even use the present perfect tense in its place

This is usually the one used when you're thinking or talking about specific moments and instances, not tendencies or patterns of behavior

For that reason, éramos amigos "we used to be friends" is more common than fuimos amigos "we were friends" but fuimos amigos isn't necessarily wrong

There are a handful of time phrases that indicate preterite, though sometimes it's flexible. These are especially important to keep in mind with weather, personality traits, and other cases where you would tend to use imperfect but can now use preterite:

Hacía calor. = It was hot outside. Hizo mucho calor. = It was very hot (at that time).

Hacía viento. = It was windy. Hizo viento ayer. = It was windy yesterday.

No hacía buen tiempo. = It wasn't nice weather. No hizo buen tiempo hoy. = It wasn't nice weather today.

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Other helpful tips:

First I’d say is that you sort of have to figure out if it’s a time phrase or not. It can be difficult because there are times when we’d think it would be past tense because it’s “over”, but try and figure out if it’s a time phrase / specific event, or if it’s a past continuous action:

Tocaba la guitarra en el colegio. = I played the guitar in high school. / I used to play guitar in high school.

Toqué la guitarra en el concierto. = I played guitar at the concert.

Past continuous actions can be harder to spot, but try to think of them as descriptions, while preterite is firmly an action that would interrupt a description:

Jugábamos al escondite. = We were playing hide and seek. Jugamos al escondite. = We played hide and seek.

Iban al cine. = They were going to the movies. Fueron al cine. = They went to the movies.

Sonaba el teléfono. = The phone was ringing. Sonó el teléfono. = The phone rang.

Be especially mindful of strange verbs like tener where the meanings might change. Normally, preterite tener carries the meaning of “had” as in “obtained” or “got”, so it’s often imperfect that you want... But tener has different expressions where the meaning could be different than regular “have”:

Tenía suerte. = I was lucky. [in general, description]

Tuve suerte. = I got lucky. / I lucked out. / I was lucky. [at that time; specific memory or event implied]

Also with preterite be aware of an implied memory or event. These can be harder to recognize, but they show up when someone is talking about a specific thing in context or they want information about a specific event:

¿Te gustó la película? = Did you like the movie?

¿Qué pensaste? = What did you think?

¿Cómo te sentiste? = How did you feel?

¿Cómo te fue? = How did it go?

¿Qué pasó? = What happened?

¿Qué hacías? = What were you doing? ¿Qué hiciste? = What did you do?

¿Dónde estabas? = Where were you? ¿Dónde estuviste? = Where have you been?

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In general, descriptions, personalities, moods, and states of being are frequently done in imperfect. They tend to be things that equate to narration.

Preterite is normally more for action or things that interrupt narrative language

Dormía mientras sonaba la alarma. = I was sleeping while the alarm was going off. [implies “I did not wake up”]

Dormía y entonces sonó la alarma. = I was sleeping and then the alarm went off. [could also say dormía hasta que “I was sleeping until...”]

In that way you’ll typically see imperfect used to set the scene, while preterite typically serves as the action that interrupts that narration. It’s especially prevalent in literature to see it that way.

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Something else important is that there are also a handful of verbs where depending on imperfect or preterite the verb will change meaning... Or acquire a different meaning that you don't really think about in English, I should say.

***These verbs are poder, no poder, querer, no querer, conocer, saber, tener, and haber ... if you need more info on those, let me know. They’re just a bigger topic by themselves and I already ramble on and on as it is.

You'll want to pay close attention to ser, estar, tener, ir, dar, ver, hacer, and andar in past tense just in general because they’re the weird ones.

ser, estar, and tener are more typically imperfect, but can be preterite in the right cases

Be aware:

telling time is ALWAYS done in the imperfect; era la una, eran las dos, era el mediodía, era la medianoche

soler is a particular verb that typically only exists in the present tense as "to be in the habit of" or "to do often"... or in the imperfect tense "used to"; it can't exist in preterite

haber is used in the imperfect tense + past participles for forming the pluperfect [past perfect]

ser in preterite/imperfect can have a difference in tone, but sometimes it's open-ended and the difference isn't something native speakers will care about too much; era bueno/a or fue bueno/a don't have TOO much of a distinction in the grand scheme of things

ser and ir conjugate the same in preterite tense, but have different conjugations in imperfect... so just be careful you're using/understanding the right verb

ser in the preterite is used with past participles to make the passive voice

be mindful of time phrases because sometimes they trip you up