G A M E - Preterite vs Imperfect
Objective: practice in the use of the past tenses, preterite & imperfect
The rules:-----------------------------
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translate the English sentence given by the person above into Spanish using the correct preterite or imperfect verb conjugations
make sure you click on N E W E S T before you begin
Then
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state whether you used the preterite or the imperfect and give a short explanation as to why you used it
- and finally
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provide a new sentence in English which includes a verb used in the past
for the next person to translate.
Have fun! ¡Diviértanse!
A suggestion: please keep your sentences simple. This is tricky stuff, so let's concentrate on the tenses, ok? - Gekko.
PS: here's a great link showing how the preterite is for action in the past whereas the imperfect is an ongoing condition in the past: Imperfecto vs Preterito and another that I've put together that may be of some use too, Pret vs Imp.
A big thanks to Gekko who 'was' kindly correcting this thread - Gekko if you have a mo' please post a thread below introducing yourself or post empty thread for me to introduce you, thus allowing the grateful participants to vote for all your hard and much appreciated work here 
Edit - Sadly Gekko doesn't come round much anymore :( we'd love it if he did but in the meantime any corrections or suggestions are gratefully accepted and if someone would like to volunteer to help with moderation of this game, that'd be awesome, please just let us know so we can welcome you officially to the possie (as us antipodeans say (ie. position))
388 Answers
Given: He felt like he was hallucinating so he put a paper bag on his head.
Translated: Se sentía alucinando, por eso se puso una bolsa de papel sobre la cabeza.
New Sentence: Then he remembered two things; paper bags were good for hyperventilation, not hallucination, and his grades in medical school hadn't been very good.
Given: Then he remembered two things; paper bags were good for hyperventilation, not hallucination, and his grades in medical school hadn't been very good.
Translation: Después recordó dos cosas: las bolsas de papel son buenas para la hiperventilación en vez de la alucinación, y sus notas en la escuela de medicina no había sido muy buenas.
New Sentence: He then realized that the man wasn't sick, the woman wasn't crazy, but instead it was he that was insane.
Given: That she also reminded the doctor of Marilyn Monroe was, in part, because she was accompanied by three men, each of whom looked like Ian Hill.
Translation: El que ella también le recordase al médico de Marilyn Monroe se debía, en parte, a que estaba acompañada de tres hombres que se parecían a Ian Hill.
New Sentence: The three men were carrying her like a goddess, and upon reflection, the doctor thought that maybe the woman bore a resemblance to Heidi Klum.
Given: Although the woman was very beautiful, she had a striking resemblance to Frankenstein, as though she had just been created.
Translation: Aunque era muy hermosa, la mujer tenía una semejanza alarmante con Frankenstein como si recién hubiese sido creada.
New Sentence: That she also reminded the doctor of Marilyn Monroe was, in part, because she was accompanied by three men, each of whom looked like Ian Hill.
Given: Taking his stethoscope in her hand she got an evil glint in her eye.
Translated: Tomando el estetoscopio en la mano, había un destello maligno en los ojos.
New Sentence: She placed the stethoscope against the door to his private office and listened to him recite a love poem.
Join in our progressive story .... The story so far:
Eng: Once upon a time ...... there was a brilliant yet hideous scientist who lived high in the mountains of Switzerland. Sadly he suffered from poor health so his wife had to call the doctor. This time when she called the doctor she was especially upset as she described his most recent symptoms. But the doctor wasn't listening and only prescribed aspirin.
Español: Había una vez un científico brillante pero espantoso que vivía en lo alto de las montañas de Suiza. Lamentablemente sufría de mala salud por lo que su esposa tuvo que llamar al médico. Esta vez cuando llamó al doctor ella estaba especialmente molesta mientras que ella describió sus síntomas más recientes. Pero el doctor no estaba escuchando y sólo recetó aspirina.
Given: So the doctor did the right thing and diagnosed the wife as being insane.
Translated: Así que el médico hizo lo correcto y le diagnosticó la esposa como loca.
New Sentence: Little did he know of her tendency to manic rage.
Given: She placed the stethoscope against the door to his private office and listened to him recite a love poem.
Translated: Ella puso el estetoscopio contra la puerta de su oficina privada y lo escuchó recitar un poema de amor.
New Sentence: He listened to her on the other side of the door and opened it to see what's going on.
Given: She always took her medication but she sometimes forgot to drink enough water for it to work.
Translated: Ella siempre tomaba su medicación, pero a veces se olvidaba de beber suficiente agua para que funcionara.
New Sentence:
Taking his stethoscope in her hand she got an evil glint in her eye.
Given: This time when she called the doctor she was especially upset as she described his most recent symptoms.
Translated: Cuando llamaba al doctor esta vez, su mujer era especialmente alterada mientras describí los últimos síntomas de su marido.
New sentence - Carrying on the story: But the doctor wasn't listening and only prescribed aspirin.
Given: I was thinking that we should start up our descriptive writing again.
Translation: Yo pensaba que debemos empezar nuestra escritura descriptiva otra vez.
Reason: "I was thinking" doesn't tell when the action started or was completed, so I used the imperfect.
New Sentence: I went to buy a few books that I've wanted for awhile, but someone had already bought them.
Given But the doctor wasn't listening and only prescribed aspirin.
Pero el doctor no estaba escuchando y sólo recetó aspirina.
New sentence: So the doctor did the right thing and diagnosed the wife as being insane.
Given: Once upon a time ...... there was a brilliant yet hideous scientist who lived high in the mountains of Switzerland.
Translated: Había una vez era un científico briliante tadavía espantoso quien vivió en el alto de las montañas de Switzerland.
Edit: (with no guarantees) Había una vez un científico brillante pero espantoso que vivía en lo alto de las montañas de Suiza,
New: Sadly he suffered from poor health so his wife had to call the doctor.
Given: I went to buy a few books that I've wanted for awhile, but someone had already bought them.
Translated: Fui a comprar algunos libros que he querido por un tiempo, pero alguien ya los había comprado.
We all had fun a little while ago turning this thread into a bit of a follow-on story - let's see if we can get that going again to give us a chance to use some descriptive writing. I know it's easy to get carried away with this so just one sentence at a time please and not tooooooo long
New Sentence: (a cliché I know)
Once upon a time ...... there was a brilliant yet hideous scientist who lived high in the mountains of Switzerland.
Given:
I was in love with him when I was in college.
Translated:
Yo estaba enamorada de él cuando estaba en la universidad.
Reason:
Neither stress the beginning or end of an action but rather just state being in love and being in college so I used the imperfect in both instances.
New Sentence:
I had a taste of the cake but it tasted yuk!
Given sentence: I felt well until I finished dinner.
Translation: Me sentía bien hasta terminé de cenar.
Reason: sentirse: I used imperfect to describe mental or physical states in the past.
For terminar de cenar I used preterit for an event with completed past action.
New Sentence:
I lived on Guam for two years.
