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: What was the movie called?
Translation: ¿Cómo se llamaba la película?
Imperfect used because the movie still has the same title.
New sentence: I went to the zoo all the time when I was young.
Thanks to everybody in advance.
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. So the doctor did the right thing and diagnosed the wife as being insane. Little did he know of her tendency to manic rage. She always took her medication but she sometimes forgot to drink enough water for it to work. Taking his stethoscope in her hand she got an evil glint in her eye. She placed the stethoscope against the door to his private office and listened to him recite a love poem.
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. Así que el médico hizo lo correcto y le diagnosticó la esposa como loca. Poco sabía él sobre su tendencia a la furia maniática. Ella siempre tomaba su medicación, pero a veces se olvidaba de beber suficiente agua para que funcionara. Tomar su estetoscopio en la mano, a ella se puso un mal destello en los ojos. Ella puso el estetoscopio contra la puerta de su oficina privada y lo escuchó recitar un poema de amor.
Given: He listened to her on the other side of the door and opened it to see what was going on.
Translated: Él la escuchaba al otro lado de la puerta y la abrió para ver lo que estaba pasando.
New Sentence: He stumbled back in horror at what he saw!
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.
Español: Había una vez un científico brillante pero espantoso que vivía en lo alto de las montañas de Suiza.
Given: Sadly he suffered from poor health so his wife had to call the doctor.
Translated: Lamentablemente sufría de mala salud por lo que su esposa tuvo que llamar al médico.
New Sentence - carrying on the story ....
This time when she called the doctor she was especially upset as she described his most recent symptoms.
Given: I used preterit for completed past action.
Translated: Usé el pretérito por acción terminada en el pasado.
Improved by Gekko: Usé el pretérito por ser una acción terminada /completada en el pasado
Reason: 'I used' refers to a an action completed at the moment referred to making it a candidate for the preterite.
New Sentence: I was thinking that we should start up our descriptive writing again.
(if there's any takers make your new sentence (including the past tense) the beginning of a story that people can add to.)
Given sentence: I had a taste of the cake but it tasted yuk!
Translation: Yo tendría sabor de pastel pero le dejaba un mal sabor de boca..
Reason: I used preterit for completed past action.
New sentece: I met the love of my live in college, in summer school, in a class called "Field Botany". (Yes, we are still together).
Given sentence: I lived on Guam for two years.
Translation: Hace dos años que viví en Guam.
Viví en Guam por dos años.
Reason: The time period is limited to two years
New Sentence: I was in love with him when I was in college.
Era socorrista
Imperfecto porque no soy socorrista ahora
I used to be.
New sentence: I bought the shoes last year.
Given: Where can you find a one legged dog? Where you left it.
Translated: ¿Dónde puede encontrar un perro con una sola pata (de una pierna)? Donde lo dejó.
Explanation: dejó - left, a one off completed action in the past
New Sentence: What was the movie called?
Given sentence:
I went to the zoo all the time when I was young.
Translated:
Cuando era pequeño, solia ir mucho al zoológico.
Reason:
Imperfecto : Talking about an action that used to take place in the past and has no bearing to the present day.
New Sentence:
The old camel who wore glasses, was blowing bubbles with his gum. But when I turned to look at him the bubble was gone!
Given:
Trembling with anticipation he said, "tell me gypsy, have you heard the one about ....
Translated:
Temblando de anticipación, dijo, "dime gitana, ¿has oído el de...."
Reason:
temblando - I think you can use the gerundio like this
dijo - preterite - singular completed action in the past
has oído - present perfect
New Sentence:
.....Where do you find a one legged dog? Where you left it.
Given:
Weak at the knees Alejo could barely speak. But he knew this was going to be his only chance.
Translated:
Sintiendo que le flaqueaban las rodillas, Alejo apenas podía hablar. Pero él sabía que esta iba a ser su única oportunidad.
New Sentence:
Trembling with anticipation he said, "tell me gypsy, have you heard the one about ...."
We now return you to our regulared scheduled programming....
Given: Which was quite surprising given that his father was half elephant and half man. And Alejo himself, for this was the elephant's name, had become quite proficient at telling jokes to humans and up until then they always seemed to find them quite funny.
Translation: Esto fue bastante sorprendente, dado que su padre era mitad elefante y mitad hombre. Y el propio Alejo, porque éste era el nombre del elefante, había llegado a ser muy hábil contando chistes a los humanos y hasta este momento siempre parecían encontrarlos muy divertidos.
Explanations: fue impreterite of ser because it was surprising in that moment.
era imperfect of ser because being an elephant/man was an ongoing condition.
era imperfect of ser likewise, because being his name was also an ongoing condition.
había llegado a ser past perfect of llegar a ser because he "had" become, up until that time, over a period of time, so it is not preterite perfect.
parecían imperfect for parecer because they seemed to find them funny over a period of time which is now being interupted. I believe this one could also be translated correctly with the past perfect habían parecido and perhaps it would be more correct to do so.
New: This was the fateful morning that Alejo met his father's benefactress, the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda.
Given:
This was the fateful morning that Alejo met his father's benefactress, the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda.
Translated:
Esta fue la mañana fatídicada cuando Alejo se encontró con la benefactora de su padre, la bella gitana Esmeralda.
Reasons:
fue - morning, specific time, preterite
se reunió - specific completed action at a particular moment
New Sentence:
Alejo decided to test her out. Would she know who he was and more importantly would she find his jokes amusing?
He took a big gulp and desperately tried to answer "Pardon me, I am.... Please, I am looking for.....Please I need the healer woman. Please can you tell me where to find the healer?" But he found that no matter how hard he tried, all he could make were the rumbles, snorts, barks and trumpets of an elephant. To his dismay he found that he had lost his ability to speak in the tongue of humans.
Translated: (bold edits thanx to Sagia 
)
Tragó saliva y desesperadamente trató de responder; "Perdón, estoy .... Por favor, estoy buscando ..... Por favor, necesito la sanadora. Por favor, ¿me puede decir donde se puede encontrar la curandera?" Pero se encontró no importa lo mucho que se esforzara, lo único que podía hacer eran los estruendos, resoplidos, ladridos y barritos de un elefante. Para su consternación, descubrió que se había perdido su habilidad de hablar en la lengua de los seres humanos.
New Sentence:
Which was quite surprising given that his father was half elephant and half man. And Alejo himself, for this was the elephant's name, had become quite proficient at telling jokes to humans and up until then they always seemed to find them quite funny.
To get things back on track, I will combine my sentence with Gecko's.
Given Sentences: The sorrowfulness of the melody brought to his mind the memory of his poor mother who was so ill she could not rise up from her bed of grass and his big eyes started to fill with tears, but he gathered together all his courage and reached out with his trunk to knock on the door of the healer. He was just about to knock when his reverie was suddenly and rudely broken by a booming voice from inside the house: "Did you come all this way just to stand out there all night swishing your stupid big ears at my door?"
Translation: La tristeza de la melodía trajó a su mente el recuerdo de su pobre máma, que estaba tan enferma que no podía levantarse de su lecho de hierba y sus grandes ojos comenzaron a llenarse de lágrimas, pero reunió todo su coraje y estiró su trompa para llamar a la puerta de la curandera. Ya estaba a punto de tocar cuando su ensoñación fue repentinamente y brutalmente interrumpida por una voz atronadora desde el interior de la casa: "¿Has recorrido todo este camino sólo para quedarte parado allí toda la noche meneando tus estúpidas orejotas frente a mi puerta?"
Preterite: Trajó, comenzaron, reunió, estiró, fue interrumpida. All were actions of short duration that were begun and completed in the past.
Imperfect: Estaba enferma and podía levantarse were ongoing conditions in the past that had not yet been resolved. Estaba a punto because he was about to knock, but that action was interupted.
Past Participle: Has recorrido because she is asking in the present tense about why he came which took place in the past.
New Sentence: He took a big gulp and desperately tried to answer "Pardon me, I am.... Please, I am looking for.....Please I need the healer woman. Please can you tell me where to find the healer?" But he found that no matter how hard he tried, all he could make were the rumbles, snorts, barks and trumpets of an elephant. To his dismay he found that he had lost his ability to speak in the tongue of humans.
