Preterite vs Imperfect in Spanish: How to Choose Every Time

Spanish has two simple past tenses, and English speakers have to pick one in almost every sentence about the past. The short version: the preterite reports events that happened and finished, and moves the story forward. The imperfect describes the background, what was going on and what used to happen, without caring when it ended.

The quick table

	Preterite	Imperfect
What it does	Reports a completed event	Describes the background or a habit
English often says	I ate, she arrived	I was eating, I used to eat
Single event	Ayer comí paella. (Yesterday I ate paella.)	–
Habit	–	De niño comía paella los domingos. (As a kid I used to eat paella on Sundays.)
Ongoing action	–	Comía cuando sonó el teléfono. (I was eating when the phone rang.)
Time, age, weather	–	Eran las ocho. Tenía diez años. Llovía.

Use the preterite for

A finished event at a specific time. Ayer llamé a mi madre. (I called my mother yesterday.)

A series of events, one after another. Me levanté, me duché y salí. (I got up, showered and left.) Each verb moves the story on.

Something that started or ended. La película empezó a las nueve. (The film started at nine.)

A closed period of time. Viví en México tres años. (I lived in Mexico for three years.) The length doesn't matter: if the period is over and you're treating it as one block, use the preterite.

Use the imperfect for

Habits and repeated actions in the past. Siempre íbamos a la playa en verano. (We always went to the beach in summer.) If English could say "used to" or "would", it's the imperfect.

Actions in progress. Leía un libro. (I was reading a book.)

Description and background. La casa era grande y tenía un jardín. (The house was big and had a garden.)

Time, age and weather. Eran las tres. Hacía frío. (It was three o'clock. It was cold.)

Feelings and states of mind. Estaba cansado y no quería salir. (I was tired and didn't want to go out.)

When both appear in one sentence

The most common pattern in storytelling: an action in progress (imperfect) gets interrupted by an event (preterite).

• Yo dormía cuando llegaste. (I was sleeping when you arrived.)
• Caminábamos por el parque y de repente empezó a llover. (We were walking through the park and suddenly it started to rain.)

Think of a film: the imperfect is the scenery and the background music, the preterite is what the characters actually do.

Trigger words

These words lean one way, though meaning always wins over the word list.

• Preterite: ayer, anoche, el lunes pasado, de repente, una vez, en 2010
• Imperfect: siempre, todos los días, a menudo, de niño, mientras, normalmente

Verbs that change meaning

A few verbs say something different in each tense. These are worth learning as pairs:

Verb	Preterite	Imperfect
conocer	Conocí a Ana. I met Ana.	Conocía a Ana. I knew Ana.
saber	Supe la verdad. I found out the truth.	Sabía la verdad. I knew the truth.
querer	Quise llamarte. I tried to call you.	Quería llamarte. I wanted to call you.
no querer	No quise ir. I refused to go.	No quería ir. I didn't want to go.
poder	Pude terminar. I managed to finish.	Podía terminar. I could finish (no word on whether I did).
tener	Tuve una idea. I got an idea.	Tenía una idea. I had an idea.

Test yourself

Choose the preterite or the imperfect, then check below.

1. Cuando era niño, ___ (jugar) al fútbol todos los días.
2. Ayer ___ (comprar) un coche nuevo.
3. ___ (ser) las diez de la noche.
4. Mientras yo ___ (cocinar), mi hermano ___ (llegar).
5. El año pasado ___ (viajar) a Perú.
6. Mi abuela ___ (tener) ochenta años.

Answers: 1. jugaba (habit). 2. compré (finished event). 3. Eran (time). 4. cocinaba, llegó (background, then interruption). 5. viajé (finished event). 6. tenía (age).

Keep going

Both tenses have their own lessons with full conjugation tables and a quiz: the Spanish preterite and the Spanish imperfect. If you're also working on por and para, see Por vs Para.

The choice gets easier the more stories you read, because you start to feel the difference between the scenery and the action. Our Learn Spanish app takes you from vocabulary and grammar through graded reading to full classics with a translation under every line. It's free to download, though some books and extra content need diamonds you earn while learning, or Premium.