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
¡Perdón! I did the wrong sentence. Given sentence: The tango was born in Buenos Aires at the end of the XIX century and was practised in the street corners and only by men at that time.
El tango nací en Buenos Aires al fin del siglo XIX y estaba practicado en las esquinas y solo por los hombres en ese tiempo.
New sentence: I couldn't believe my cousin din't want to come to the party.
I was so busy all weekend that I was not able to correct my threads, althouhg I was monitoring through my phone.
Estaba tan ocupado todo el fin de semana que yo no era capaz de corregir mis hilos, aunque los seguía por mi teléfono.
Explanation:Imperfect because, action was ongoing in the past.
New sentence: when he arrived, she was cooking in the kitchen.
Given:
I thought all this practice would help, but tell me when will we figure this out?
Translated:
Pensaba que todo (de?) esta práctica ayudaría, pero dime ¿cuándo vamos a resolver esto?
Reason:
Pensaba - imperfect, mental process, ongoing opinion
New Sentence:
There were dark clouds and the wind blew last night so we thought that we were going to get a storm.
Given:
Shortly after they had climbed up to the mountain top, they realized that bad weather was approaching and decided to start descending immediately.
Translated:
Poco después de haber subido a la cima de la montaña, se dieron cuenta de que el mal tiempo se acercaba y decidieron empezar a descender inmediatamente.
Reasons:
se dieron cuenta: preterite, singular completed action
se acercaba - imperfect - gradual incompleted action
decidió - preterite, singular completed action
New Sentence:
This morning we went shopping and after browsing through a few shops we bought t-shirts for our sons who had stayed back in NZ.
Given sentence: She took a wrong turn and drove down the road and saw the house that her grandfather had built 80 years ago.
Hizo un giro incorrecto y manejó por la calle y vio la casa que su abuelo hubo construido 80 años anterior.
I think it's preterite for everything because it is a list of actions each with clear endings. However, if I were telling the story myself I might say: Hizo un giro incorrecto y manejaba por la calle cuando vio la casa... and use the imperfect for manejar. I think it's preterite for the example though. If it isn't can somebody pretty please give me some detail as to why it's not?
New sentence: I couldn't believe my cousin didn't want to come to the party.
This morning we went shopping and after browsing through a few shops we bought t-shirts for our sons who had stayed back in NZ.
Esta mañana fuimos de compras y después de mirar en algunas tiendas, les compramos unas camisetas a nuestros hijos que se habían quedado atrás en Nueva Zelanda.
Ir - fuimos and comprar - compramos are preterit because of indicating events hqppening in specific time in the past (this morning) Haber - habían is imperfect because ongoing past action.
She took a wrong turn and drove down the road and saw the house that her grandfather had built 80 years ago.
Given sentence (man I'm determined to start getting these right)
"Years later the tango was danced in the family houses and women started to take part in it."
Unos años más tarde, el tango era(??) bailado en las casa de famillias y las mujeres empezaron a participar.
I'm not actually sure why it would be 'era' instead of 'estaba' (but am going off of the correction of the last example), but I'm pretty sure it's imperfect because it's something that 'used to happen' with no definite start or finish. I think 'empezar' is preterite because it is describing when an action began- though it could be imperfect because the English version does imply an ongoing action (i.e. they 'started taking part' over time).
New sentence: I thought I understood how the preterite and imperfect tenses worked, but apparently, I was wrong!
I wanted to watch the sun set tonight but we went out for dinner instead.
Quería mirar la puesta del sol hoy, pero salimos a cenar más bien.
==Imperfect & Preterite; a past action interrupted by another past action
New sentence:
Shortly after they had climbed up to the mountain top, they realized that bad weather was approaching and decided to start descending immediately.
Given:
The mail that came yesterday had a letter for the girl who used to live next door.
Translated:
El correo que llegó ayer incluyó una carta para la chica que vivía al lado.
Reasons:
llegó - preterite, single completed action in the past
incluía - imperfect - a state instead of an action
vivía - imperfect, used to
New Sentence:
I wanted to watch the sun set tonight but we went out for dinner instead.
I thought I was getting these concepts, but I think I messed up when I translated "What was your day like?"
Pensé que entendía estos conceptos, pero creo que metí la pata cuando traduje "¿Cómo te fue hoy?"
==Imperfect for describing a mental state in the past and Preterite for completed actions in the past
New sentence:
It was the end of another summer and the grass turned yellow and dry.
Given:
The gate said, "You never took care of me, but Sasha rubbed butter on my hinges.
Translated:
La puerta dijo: Tu nunca me cuidabas, pero Sasha me frotaba la mantequilla en las bisagras.
Reasons:
dijo - preterite, single action completed in the past
cuidabas - imperfect, over an unknown period of time
frotaba - imperfect (ditto as above)
New Sentence:
The sun looked beautiful when it was setting yesterday.
Given:
The lights had blinked and I thought that we were going to lose our internet connection, but I was wrong.
Translated:
Las luces habían parpadeado y pensé que íbamos a perder nuestra conexión a internet, pero me equivocaba..
Reason:
habían - imperfect - over an indeterminate period of time
pensé - preterite - singular completed action
íbamos - imperfect - 'were + verb'
equivocaba - imperfect - to match the habian?? - not sure that I get that one Gekko but I'll believe you 
New sentence:
We had a lovely time snorkeling with the turtles through a passage out to the coral reef but the locals told us you should only snorkel there in good weather conditions as many people had died there due to the dangerous currents.
Given sentence. This one was never answered
When I was young, my father was in the Navy. We moved over twenty times. My parents left kids on each coast after they graduated from high school.
Cuando era joven, mi padre estaba en la Marina. Nos mudamos veinte veces. Mis padres dejaron hijos en cada costa una vez que éstos se graduaron de secundaria.
estaba imperfect for action ongoing past , all other verbs are preterit bacause of completed action
New sentence
The lights had blinked and I thought that we were going to lose our internet connection, but I was wrong.
I was so busy at the restaurant last night that I forgot to serve the dinner salads.
Estuve tan ocupada en el restaurante anoche que olvidé servir las ensaladas de la cena
Both preterit, particular moments in past (last night)
New sentence
The day before yesterday, we went to the car show and I voted for the green 1954 Ford as my favorite.
New Sentence Given Sentence Mientras María se entretenía leyendo novelas en las playas de Rarotonga, los estudiantes hicieron desastres con los hilos que dejó.
Gekko gave us the Spanish. So, we must guess what he wants.
While Maria was entertained reading novels on the beaches of Rarotonga, the students made a total mess on the threads left.
entretenía is imperfect action done repeatedly
hicieron is preterit , indicates action happening for specific amount of time
dejó is preterit, reports beginning of event?
New sentence, That one was so hard that Sanlee just wrote this and quickly left the thread.
