2. 2 Main Past Tenses in Spanish
In Spanish, there are 2 main
tenses used to talk in the past:
1. El Pretérito
2. El Imperfecto
3. El Pretérito
Remember:
The PRETÉRITO is used to talk about
actions that are completed.
They have a definite beginning and
ending.
Yesterday I ate dinner at 5:00.
I woke up, got dressed, and ate
breakfast.
5. El Imperfecto
EL IMPERFECTO is a tense used to
describe actions in the past that are
not seen as completed.
Not translated but cause imperfect
Used to
would
This tense is primarily used to
DESCRIBE in the past.
6. El Imperfecto
As a child, I used to always play
soccer. (do not translate “used to”)
My family and I used to vacation in
Hawaii every Summer.
I was very shy as a kid.
7. Conjugation: Endings
Drop the Ending (AR, ER, IR)
Add:
For AR Verbs:
aba
abas
aba
ábamos (*Note the accent mark*)
abais
aban
8. Conjugation: Endings
For ER and IR Verbs:
ía
ías
ía
íamos
íais
ían
*NOTE = All of the endings have an accent on the
“i”
14. Use the Impefect To:
To talk about actions that were
repeated or habitual:
Normally I would eat
watermelon. (watermelon =
sandía)
Normalmente, comía sandía.
15. Use the Impefect To:
To Tell Time in The Past
And
To Tell Sombody’s Age
In The Past
16. Era la una cuando ví la película.
Eran las tres y media cuando
empezó la clase.
Cuando tenía dos años, jugaba
en el parque.
17. Práctica
De niña, yo ___ con las muñecas.
(jugar)
*jugaba*
Mi familia y yo siempre ____ la
pizza.
*comíamos*
18. Traduzca al Español:
I used to always wear jeans and
T-shirts.
When I was six years old, I used
to always play baseball with my
friends.
19. Práctica
My family and I visited my
grandparents in California a lot.
My brothers often swam in the
river.
