Preterite and Imperfect Verbs

1. Preterite and Imperfect Verbs …the tricky past is present The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. - Lesley P. Hartley, The Go-Between, 1953

2. Uses for Preterite and Imperfect

3. Other situations • Something was happening, when an action ‘interrupted’ it. • The ongoing action is imperfect, and the action that ‘interrupts’ is preterite. • In a long narrative. • The part that seems to be descriptive, background info is imperfect, while actions and specific events are preterite.

4. Practice While I was walking in Florida, I saw a gator (el caimán). Mientras caminaba en Florida, vi a un caimán. (interruption of an ongoing action)

5. Practice I left Florida, and went to Belize. It was sunny when I arrived! Salí de Florida, y fui a Belize. Hacía mucho sol cuando llegué. (action, weather, action)

6. Practice It was four o’clock when my mom sent me an e-mail. She was sad, because she missed (extrañar) me. Eran las cuatro cuando mi madre me mandó un e-mail. Estaba triste, porque me extrañaba. (time, action, emotion, emotion)

7. Imperfect Formation

8. Preterite Formation

9. More Practice W e b R e s o u r c e s Preterite and Imperfect Practice http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/superhombre.html Grammar Help Preterite vs. Imperfect http://php.indiana.edu/~jsoto/PreteritoImperfecto.html Online Verb Tutorial http://www.studyspanish.com/verbs/index.htm