Talking about the past...

​There are 2 past tenses in Spanish

• Preterite Tense: The Simple Past (completed actions)

• Imperfect Tense: The Ongoing Past (ongoing actions)

-í -imos
-iste -isteis
-ió -ieron

​-ER/-IR Verb Endings

-é -amos
-aste -asteis
-ó -aron

​-AR Verb Endings

Preterite Tense Endings

-ía -íamos
-ías -ías
-ía -ían

-ER/-IR Endings

-aba -ábamos
-abas -abais
-aba -aban

​-AR Endings

Imperfect Tense Endings

• Action completed at specific time in the past

• Actions that occurred a specific number of times

• Expressing a chaing of events in the past

​Specific Time Period

• Expressed as -ed in English

• ​Actions that are completed in the past

• Used to express the beginning and the end of an action.

​Completed Actions

Preterite Usage

el mes pasado= last month
el año pasado= last year
el verano pasado= last summer
hace tres días= 3 days ago

tres veces= three times
ayer= yesterday
anoche= last night
la semana pasada= last week

Specific Time Period

Preterite Phrases

• Actions repeated a non-specific number of times

• Talking about your childhood in the past

• Background, Age, Time, Habits

• Description of people and things in the past

​Non-specific Time Period

• Expressed as used to or was -ing in English

• Actions occurring over an extended period of time

• Expressing mental states

​On-going Actions

Imperfect Usage

• todos los días= every day

• cada mes= every month

• a menudo= often

• de vez en cuando= from time to time

• hace muchos días= several days ago

• muchas veces= many times

• a veces= sometimes

• el otro día= the other day

• ese día= that day

• una noche= one night

• generalmente

​Non-Specific Time Perod

Imperfect Phrases