La semana pasada, Manolo y Aurora ¹querían dar una fiesta. ²Decidieron invitar a seis amigos y servirles mucha comida. Manolo y Aurora ³estaban preparando la comida cuando Elena ⁴llamó. Como siempre, ⁵tenía que estudiar para un examen. A las seis, ⁶volvió a sonar el teléfono. Su amigo Francisco tampoco ⁷podía ir a la fiesta, porque ⁸tenía fiebre. Manolo y Aurora ⁹se sintieron muy tristes, pero ¹⁰tuvieron que preparar la comida.
Summary
¹querían (background information)
²Decidieron (finished)
³estaban (background information)
⁴llamó (finished)
⁵tenía (background information)
⁶volvió (finished)
⁷podía (background information)
⁸tenía (background information)
⁹se sintieron (finished)
¹⁰tuvieron (finished)
<h3>Translation</h3>Last week, Manolo and Aurora wanted to throw a party. They decided to invite six friends and serve them a lot of food. Manolo and Aurora were preparing food when Elena called. As always, she had to study for an exam. At six, the phone rang again. Their friend Francisco also couldn't go to the party, because he had a fever. Manolo and Aurora felt very sad, but they had to prepare the food.
Explanation: whether the action happened only once, and it is considered finished, we use the preterite tense. Whether we are providing background information, we use the imperfect, because the imperfect sets the scene for a series of actions.