Lesson 1.2 · Unit 1 · Structures
One event, one scene
Spanish has two simple past tenses because the past has two jobs. The preterite reports an event that happened and was completed. The imperfect paints the scene behind the event: what things were like, what used to happen, what someone was doing, how old someone was. English often uses the same verb for both, and that is why a student who translates word by word chooses wrongly. This lesson reviews both tenses and the frame that decides between them.
- Preterite endings. -ar: -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -aron. -er and -ir: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -ieron. Hablé, comiste, vivió, hablamos, comieron.
- Imperfect endings. -ar: -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -aban. -er and -ir: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -ían. Hablaba, comías, vivía, hablábamos, comían.
- Only three irregular imperfects. ser → era, ir → iba, ver → veía. Every other verb is regular.
- Irregular preterite stems. u: estuve, tuve, pude, puse, supe. i: hice, quise, vine. j: dije, traje, conduje. Endings -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -ieron (after j, -eron), with no accents.
- Spelling and boots in the preterite. buscar → busqué, llegar → llegué, empezar → empecé; leer → leyó; pedir → pidió, dormir → durmió. The -ir boot appears only in él and ellos.
- Preterite for events. Something happened, started, ended or happened a counted number of times: Ayer llegué a las ocho. Lo llamé tres veces.
- Imperfect for the scene. Background, habit, description, age, time of day, feelings and actions in progress: Era tarde. Tenía doce años. Llovía. Iba a la playa cada verano.
- Ser and ir share the preterite. Fue can mean "he went" or "it was." Context decides: Fue a Lima (went), Fue un buen día (was).
Where students lose marks: Choosing by English (I played can be either) and not by the frame, building busqué as buscé, and giving dormir a boot in nosotros. Ask first: did it happen, or was it the scene?
The problem. Write six sentences in the past: (1) Yesterday I looked for my keys and found them. (2) When I was little, I played every afternoon. (3) We had to leave because it was raining. (4) She was twelve and lived in Lima. (5) They told the truth. (6) It was two o'clock when he arrived.
Step one: sentence 1. Two finished events. Buscar has the spelling change: Ayer busqué mis llaves y las encontré.
Step two: sentence 2. A habit in childhood: Cuando era pequeño, jugaba todas las tardes.
Step three: sentence 3. A finished event with a reason that is the scene: Tuvimos que salir porque llovía.
Step four: sentence 4. Age and residence are scene: Tenía doce años y vivía en Lima.
Step five: sentence 5. A finished event with the irregular j stem: Dijeron la verdad.
Step six: sentence 6. Time of day is scene and the arrival is the event: Eran las dos cuando llegó.
Step seven: frames. Sentences 1, 5 and the second half of 6 are events (preterite); sentences 2, 4 and the first half of 6 are scene (imperfect); sentence 3 has one of each.
Step eight: check. Each preterite stem is correct (busqué, tuvimos, dijeron) and each imperfect keeps its ending (era, tenía, vivía, llovía).
Problems 1 to 5 are routine. Problems 6 to 10 are multi-step or ask for reasoning.
- Write the preterite yo form of buscar, llegar and empezar.
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Each ends in a spelling change that keeps the sound. busqué, llegué, empecé
- Write the imperfect of vivir for yo and nosotros, and of ser for ellos.
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Vivir has the -ía endings, and ser is irregular. vivía, vivíamos, eran
- Complete: Cuando yo ___ (ser) niño, ___ (jugar) al fútbol cada tarde.
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Both verbs describe the habit. era, jugaba
- Complete: Ayer ella ___ (decir) la verdad y nosotros ___ (hacer) la cena.
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Two finished events, both with irregular stems. dijo, hicimos
- Choose: Mi abuela (tenía, tuvo) setenta años cuando murió.
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Age is part of the scene, and the death is the event. tenía
- Say "It was raining when we left."
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Llovía is the scene and salimos is the event. Llovía cuando salimos.
- Say "I knew the answer, but I did not say anything."
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Sabía is the state, and dije is the finished act with an irregular stem. Sabía la respuesta, pero no dije nada.
- Find and fix the errors: Ayer fui a la tienda porque necesité pan. Cuando era pequeño, fui a la playa cada verano.
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The need was the reason, which is the scene, and the second sentence is a habit. Ayer fui a la tienda porque necesitaba pan. Cuando era pequeño, iba a la playa cada verano.
- Explain why Eran las tres cuando llegó uses two different tenses.
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The time of day is background, so it is imperfect. The arrival is an event that happened at that time, so it is preterite. Eran is the scene and llegó is the event.
- Write a five-sentence paragraph about a memorable day last year, using both tenses.
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One correct answer: Era el verano pasado y hacía mucho calor. Mi familia y yo fuimos a la playa. Mis primos ya estaban allí. Jugamos en el agua y comimos mucho. Volvimos a casa muy cansados. The scene verbs are era, hacía, estaban; the events are fuimos, jugamos, comimos, volvimos. Era el verano pasado y hacía mucho calor. Mi familia y yo fuimos a la playa. Mis primos ya estaban allí. Jugamos en el agua y comimos mucho. Volvimos a casa muy cansados.