Transcript Preterite and Imperfect - Birmingham Public Schools

Preterite and Imperfect Verbs
…the tricky past is present
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
- Lesley P. Hartley, The Go-Between, 1953
Found on the internet 2/2011; edited by Pr
Uses for Preterite and Imperfect
Preterite
Imperfect
C
completed actions: single
actions or series of actions (She
blinked.)
F
focus on beginning of an
action (He started running.)
F
focus on an actions
coming to an end (Class ended.)
P
physical or emotional
states (We were happy.)
H
habitual actions (I used to
eat pizza for lunch.)
A
age (She was 5 years
old.)
T
time (It was 4 o’clock.)
C
continuing actions (I was
crying.)
O
ongoing situations (We
were living in Texas.)
W
weather (It was snowy.)
Other situations
 Something was happening (imperfect), when an
action ‘interrupted’ it (preterite).
The ongoing action is imperfect, and the action that
‘interrupts’ is preterite.
 In a long narrative.
The part that seems to be descriptive, background
info is imperfect, while actions and specific events are
preterite.
Practice
While I was walking in
Florida, I saw a gator (el
caimán).
Mientras caminaba en
Florida, vi a un caimán.
(interruption of an ongoing action)
Practice
I left Florida, and went
to Belize. It was sunny
when I arrived!
Salí de Florida, y fui a
Belize. Hacía mucho
sol cuando llegué.
(action, weather, action)
Practice
It was four o’clock
when my mom
sent me an e-mail.
Eran las cuatro
cuando mi madre
me mandó un email.
She was sad, because
she missed (extrañar)
me.
Estaba triste, porque me
extrañaba.
(time, action, emotion, emotion)
Web Resource
More
s
Practice
Preterite and Imperfect Practice
http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/superhombre.html
Grammar Help
Preterite vs. Imperfect
http://php.indiana.edu/~jsoto/PreteritoImperfecto.html
Online Verb Tutorial
http://www.studyspanish.com/verbs/index.htm