what is the difference between preterite & imperfect

Question

what is the difference between preterite and imperfect?

Answer 1

Hi, aka, and welcome to SpanishDict!

Basically the preterit is for something that happened at a single definable time in the past, and the imperfect is for something that happened over time and is not easily pinpointed with a beginning and an end.

Almorzamos ayer. (We ate lunch yesterday.) (Preterit)

Almorzábamos cada día. (We used to eat lunch together every day.) (Imperfect)

If you click "Answers" at the top of the page and then put "preterite imperfect" in the search box, you'll get quite a few hits as this is something frequently discussed in the forums.

Verb Tenses, including Preterit and Imperfect, are discussed in the Reference Section, under More -> Reference -> Spanish Verbs.

And finally, there are several video lessons on preterit and imperfect. Check out

2.6 - The Preterit and Travels

2.7 - Irregular Preterit and Travel

2.8 - Kind of Irregular Preterit

2.9 - Childhood and the Imperfect Tense

2.10 - The Preterit vs. the Imperfect

By the way, it's preterit, not preterite.

Answer 2

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Take a look at these lessons on the Preterit and Imperfect tenses.

oh, you're first :) - swing, Jun 16, 2010

Answer 3

Welcome to the forum. All the answers you can find here, in reference verbs section: link text