Question

Should I use imperfecto or the pretérito?

Comiste antes de venir?

Comiste antes de venir ayer?

Answer 1

wait ok?

Answer 2

i think its

ºComiste antes de venir ayer?º

@marianopolis

Answer 3

Basically, preterite describes actions that are considered completed (i.e. the action was performed once (or some other limited amount of times) within a specified time frame) while the imperfect describes actions that are considered incomplete (i.e. the action was ongoing or it’s time frame is not specified (or incapable of being specified)). One thing that often helps students “get a feel” for it is by thinking of the preterite as describing what a person “did” (and only that) while the imperfect describes what the person “often would do” or “was doing” or “used to do,” etc. So, really, the difference lies with what it is specifically that you wish to say. For example:

(1) Ella tuvo un bebé.
(2) Ella tenía un bebé.

Both of the above sentences might be translated into English as “She had a baby.” Sentence (1) means “She had a baby” in the sense of “she completed the ACTION of having a baby” (i.e. “she gave birth to a baby”). In contrast, sentence (2) means “she had a baby” in the sense of a DESCRIPTION of the fact that “she had a baby with her (in her possession)” (i.e. “she was holding the baby in her arms, she was pushing a baby in a stroller, she was at home with her baby, etc. etc.).

More examples:

(3) ¿Cómo supiste eso? (with “saber” in preterite)
(4) ¿Cómo sabías eso? (with “saber” in imperfect)

Sentences (3) and (4) might perhaps both be translated into English as “How did you know that?” Sentence (3) means specifically “How did you come to know that information at a specific moment?” (i.e. “How did you find out/discover that?” or “What gave it away?”) while sentence (4) means “How did you have that information in your head all this time?” (i.e. “Had you learned about it long ago in school?” or “Had you learned it through something that you experienced before?” etc.).

(5) Lo conocí en una fiesta el sábado pasado. (with “conocer” in preterite)
(6) Lo conocía mejor en aquel entonces. (with “conocer” in imperfect)

Sentence (5) describes an ACTION and means “I came to know him at a party last Saturday” (i.e. “I met him…”) while sentence (6) is more of a description and means “I knew him better back then” (i.e. “I used to him better…).

(7) Salimos por la tarde. (“salir” in preterite)
(8) Salíamos por la tarde. (“salir” in imperfect)

Sentence (7) means “We went out in the evening.” - for example, we had a date, we decided to go see a movie, we went shopping, etc. Sentence (8) means “We used to go out in the evening” - for example, we would go to the beach every weekend, we would take a walk in the park, we would eat out at a restaurant, etc.

All the examples above (1)-(8) have very few clues, but often there are adverbs in the sentence which will help you to know which tense to use. Adverbs that indicate habit, repetition, continuity, simultaneity, etc. (i.e. “siempre,” “frecuentemente,” “todos los fines de semana,” “cada día,” “mientras,” etc.) trigger the use of imperfect while adverbs that indicate specific occasions and times (i.e. “ayer,” “anoche,” “el lunes pasado,” “a las ocho de la mañana,” etc.) trigger the use of preterite. Also, the following acronyms (“WATCHED” and “ICE”) often help students to remember when to use imperfect and when to use preterite respectively (at least when they are first learning the difference):

Use imperfect to talk about:

Weather (e.g. “it was raining,” “there were clouds,” etc.)
Age (e.g. “when I was ten…)
Time (e.g. “It was three o’clock…”)
Continuous action (e.g. “My mother was cooking dinner…”)
Habitual action (e.g.“My father always used to read the newspaper…”)
Emotion (e.g. “You were sad, but I was happy.”)
Description (e.g. “The sea was calm…”)

Use preterite to talk about:

Interrupting action (e.g. “Someone knocked at the door”)
Completed action (e.g. “They left.”)
Explicit occasion/time (e.g. “He arrived at five o’clock yesterday”)

Warning: the above acronyms are a general guideline only, and their rules can be overridden whenever the intended meaning of the phrase determines the verb tense. For example, with Age, to say “when I was ten years old…” is a description and would be “cuando tenía diez años…” with “tener” in imperfect but to say “when I turned ten years old…” is an action and would be “cuando cumplí diez años…” with "cumplir" in preterite.

Hope that helps. :)

Answer 4

Spongebob, you have always been there to save me!

Answer 5

my name is brenda..

Answer 6

lmao! @brendalopez shes like spongebob

Answer 7

um how? @chikki_305

Answer 8

Is there anyone teach me how to enroll this course. I don't know how to do that. plz

Answer 9

I really need your help

Answer 10

Brenda, your profile picture is spongebob! :)