Over the years I can see that those two past tenses tend to give to GCSE Spanish students a bit of a headache. Also, A-Level students can´t master this properly and often get confused therefore I have done this to clarify a bit.
If you are not a Spanish GCSE or A-Level student doesn´t matter. It is very important to understand those two past tenses to be able to understand and express yourself so, don´t jump this blog and read it.
The imperfect
Also called “El pretérito imperfecto” in Spanish a lot of times translates as (was, were, doing (as used to do)
This can be a bit confusing and for that reason, I am going to state some examples and hopefully will become a bit clear.
The Spanish Imperfect tense is used in a way to describe actions that were ongoing or habitual in the past. It is also used to describe physical and emotional states in the past. In Spanish, the imperfect tense is formed by dropping the -ar, -er, or -ir ending from the verb’s infinitive form and adding the appropriate imperfect ending. For example, the verb “hablar” (to speak) would become “habl-” and the imperfect endings for “-ar” verbs are -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, and -aban.
One of the primary uses of the Spanish imperfect tense is to talk about past actions that were habitual or ongoing. For example, if I wanted to say “I used to walk to school every day,” I would use the imperfect tense: “Yo estudiaba en casa todos los días.” This indicates that the action of walking to school was something that was done regularly in the past. The imperfect tense can also be used to describe physical or emotional states in the past. For example, if I wanted to say “She was happy when she was a child,” I would use the imperfect tense: “Ella estaba feliz cuando era niña.”
Overall, the Spanish imperfect tense is a helpful tool for describing past actions and states in a more nuanced way. By understanding how to properly use the imperfect tense, Spanish speakers can accurately convey the idea that an action was ongoing, habitual, or a specific state in the past. This helps to understand better of past events and experiences, making conversations and storytelling more exciting and engaging. With practice and study, high school students can quickly grasp the concept of the Spanish imperfect tense and use it effectively in their writing and speech.
Before showing you any example I am going to write down 3 different verbs. As you probably already know in Spanish there are 3 conjugations. We look at the infinitive form and the endings are (-AR -ER and -IR) If all this sounds a bit strange to you, don´t worry look at the following 3 verbs below:
ESTUDIAR (As you can see “estudiar” – to study” finishes with -AR this means 1st conjugation)
COMER (As you can see “comer” – to study” finishes with -ER this means 2nd conjugation)
CONDUCIR (As you can see “conducir” – to drive” finishes with -IR this means 3rd conjugation)
Shall we conjugate those verbs?
ESTUDIAR
Yo estudiaba
Tú estudiabas
Él, Ella/Usted estudiaba
Nosotros estudiábamos
Vosotros estudiabais
Ellos, Ellas o ustedes estudiaban
COMER
Yo comía
Tú comías
Él, Ella/Usted comía
Nosotros comíamos
Vosotros comíais
Ellos, Ellas o ustedes comían
CONDUCIR
Yo conducía
Tú conducías
Él, Ella/Usted conducía
Nosotros conducíamos
Vosotros conducíais
Ellos, Ellas o ustedes conducían
I am now going to invite you to follow my following link you can see an excellent comparison and use of both Preterit and Imperfect with plenty of examples.
It is also a good blog so you can practise your reading skills and understanding in Spanish. At the end of the day if you are reading this blog and you are studying Spanish you are likely to understand it.
If you need more help you can always learn more Spanish with School-e.