Question

Write three sentences in Spanish saying what you did in the past. Then, in English, write the reason for using imperfect and why you use those verb forms in the sentences.

Answer 1

Hey there! I'm happy to help!

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THE TWO TYPES OF PAST TENSES IN SPANISH

When you are talking about Spanish past tenses, it is essential to think of it like a timeline. There are two types of past tense, pretérito and imperfecto.

PRETÉRITO

El pretérito is basically like a point in the past. It has the meaning that you did something and then it was over. For example, I ate food yesterday, I went on a vacation to France, he tried onions last year and hated them. These are all examples of pretérito because it was a dot on the timeline, even if it was a long event (such as a vacation). It wasn't something constant or repeated, but it was one time.

Examples:

Comí comida ayer.

Me fui de vacaciónes a Francia.

Él probó las cebollas el año pasado y las odió.

IMPERFECTO

El imperfecto is basically a line in the past. It shows that something used to happen, and it usually is something that was constant but has now stopped. For example, I worked at the mall for a long time, my mom was a teacher, I used to play on that playground all the time in my childhood. I will translate these into Spanish below. These are all imperfecto because it is something that used to happen, occur, or exist but doesn't anymore.

Examples:

Yo trabajaba en el centro comercial por mucho tiempo.

Mi mamá era maestra.

Jugaba en ese patio todo el tiempo en mi infancia.

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THE SOLUTION

For your answer, you can really use some of the sentences I used or come up with some of them to fit you, because with all of this information you can look up some conjugations and you can also refer back to this answer and keep on learning! Now, you will be able to talk in any past tense in Spanish and you will be fluent very quickly!

I hope that this helps! Have a wonderful day!