Urgent! About the dele exam!!
Does anyone know how to find a sample answer for the writing section of DELE inicial??
I know that there are 2 partes. But I have no idea how to format my writing. For parte numero 1, for things like "Nacionalidad" or "Profesion" I just write down words or phrases? and for questions asking for my opinion, full sentences?
And what do I write for Domicilio and Telefono? Do I just write my real address and numbers? (I'm asking this because I'm taking this in Korea, and it's very difficult to convert the address to Spanish ha)
Also for parte numero 2 (and parte numero 1), when I'm writing in past tense and I'm not sure exactly which tense to use, what do you recommend that I use? The preterite or the imperfect? (In other words, what tense is more generally used when writing in the past?)
2 Answers
I am not really sure about the specifics of your test, but perhaps I can give you something to think about regarding the use of the preterite and imperfect tenses.
The difference between preterite and imperfect has to do with a concept called aspect. To understand aspect, it might help to visualize the concept. Consider the following time line:
d
Past Present Future
Time line????????????|??????????????????|??????????????????|??????
d
We can draw a line anywhere on this time line and consider it as a reference point. Depending on where this reference point is located on the time line in comparison to real time we can call this point by different names. If the reference point coincides with the current time then we will call that the present; if it occurs to the left of the current time then it can be considered the past, and if it occurs to the right of this line then it can be considered the future. For this discussion We are only concerned with the past
Reference
Point
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Past Current
Time
The idea of aspect comes into play when we consider what type of event is occurring at our specific reference point in time. If the event can be described as a process that is unfolding at the specific point in time; i.e. the action/event did not begin or end at the point in time to which we are referring then it is generally thought of as imperfective. With this in mind we can usually consider repeated or habitual actions or ongoing states as imperfective in nature.
If on the other hand, the event can be considered a single event (usually conceived of as a single unit) which is either initiated or terminated at our reference point or represents a momentary action that occurs at our reference point then we refer to such events as perfective in nature.
Imperfective vs. Perfective
Imperfective
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Reference|Point
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Perfective
As you may have already guessed, when speaking of our verb tenses, the imperfect is used to describe events in the past (in relation to a given reference point) of an imperfective nature; while, the preterite is used to describe events which occur in the past (again, in relation to a given reference point) of a perfective nature.
Try using the time line to actually visualize such an imperfective event as unfolding or recurring, and hopefully, you will be able to see why the imperfect tense is used to describe things that one "used to do" or to provide background information as to what was going on or what things were like when a specific perfective (preterite) event occurred. Using the time line, see if you can spot the difference between the following statements:
1). Paseaba al perro los sábados
2). Paseé al perro el sábado
Try here 
