Imperfect

1
Imperfect

• Is used to talk about actions that happened
  repeatedly in the past .
• I used to ..
• I was/ were ..ing

2
The imperfect v/s the Preterite

• The Imperfect is used
• For actions that were repeated habitually
• For actions that "set the stage" for another past
  action
• For telling time
• For stating one's age
• For mental states (usually)
• For physical sensations (usually)
• To describe the characteristics of people, things
  or conditions

3
Acronym WATERS

• Weather
• Llovía.
• It was raining.
• Age
• Cuando tenía tres años, quería ser bombera.
• When I was three, I wanted to be a firefighter.
• Time
• Eran las cuatro.
• It was four o'clock.
• Emotion
• Estaba triste.
• I was sad.
• Repetition
• Yo visitaba a mi abuela de vez en cuando.
• I used to visit my grandmother from time to time.
  
• Setting or description
• (Answers the questions What was happening? What
  was like?)El sol brillaba y la vista era
  bonita.
• (What was happening? The sun was shining.)
  (What was the view like? It was pretty.)

4
Expressions with the Imperfect

• menudo (often)a veces (sometimes)cada día
  (every day)cada semana (every week)cada mes
  (every month)cada año (every year)con
  frecuencia (frequently)de vez en cuando (from
  time to time)

5

• nunca (never)por un rato (for awhile)siempre
  (always)tantas veces (so many times)todas las
  semanas (every week)todos los días (every
  day)todo el tiempo (all the time)varias veces
  (several times

6
Preterite or Imperfect

• Another way to view this is that the preterite
  tells us specifically when an action took place,
  while the imperfect tells us in general when an
  action took place
• The Imperfect is also used to ( page 219)
• to describe people, places, and situations in the
  past
• to talk about a past action or situation when
  no beginning or end is specified (Había to
  describe the situation or background information
  when something else happened or interrupted the
  ongoing action.

7
Preterite

• The Preterite is used
• For actions that can be viewed as single events
• For actions that were repeated a specific number
  of times
• For actions that occurred during a specific
  period of time
• For actions that were part of a chain of events
• To state the beginning or the end of an action

8
Expressions that use the preterite

• ayer (yesterday)anteayer (the day before
  yesterday)anoche (last night)desde el primer
  momento (from the first moment)durante dos
  siglos (for two centuries)el otro día (the other
  day)en ese momento (at that moment)entonces
  (then)

9

• esta mañana (this morning)esta tarde (this
  afternoon)la semana pasada (last week)el mes
  pasado (last month)el año pasado (last
  year)hace dos días, años (two days, years
  ago)ayer por la mañana (yesterday morning)ayer
  por la tarde (yesterday afternoon)

10
The acronym SAFE

• Specific instance or a number of/several
  instances
• Le llamó tres veces. El me llamó ayer.
• He called him three times. He called me
  yesterday.
• Action that interrupts ongoing events
• Yo trabajaba cuando mi amiga llamó.
• I was working when my friend called.
• Focus on beginning or ending of action
• Empezó a llover.
• It started to rain.
• Enclosed amount of time
• Los árabes controlaron mucho de España por más de
  700 años.
• The Arabs controlled much of Spain for over 700
  years.
•