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 sentence: As a teenager, Juan ran every day to the supermarket. One day he found a pet monkey for sale!
Cuando era adolescente, Juan (se?) corrió todos los días al supermercado. Un día (se?) encontró un mono domesticado en venta.
Both ser and correr are imperfect b/c they have no definite start or finish and set the scene. I'm not sure if correr should be reflexive, but feel that it sounds right to have it be reflexive (same is true with encontrar). Encontrar is preterite because it was a one time event and ended.
New sentence: I used to be a social worker, but ever since the budget was cut, I've been working as a writer.
When we went on vacation, we rented a car with a GPS that was always telling us to "take the next exit and make a legal U turn". It drove us crazy.
Cuando fuimos de vacaciones, alquilamos un coche con un GPS que siempre nos decía "tome la próxima salida y haga una vuelta U legal". Se nos volvía locos.
==Preterite for completed actions in the past and Imperfect for a repeated action in the past
New sentence:
Breakfast was served, but nobody seemed to be hungry.
I was getting ready to start my work when I received a message that another new answer had been posted to the thread.
Me estaba preparando para empezar mi trabajo cuando recibí un mensaje de que otra respuesta nueva había sido publicada en el hilo.
==Imperfect & Preterite, because of the past action interrupted by another past action; the last one in the Past Perfect as implicated in the given sentence
New sentence:
I used to mind being interrupted when I work, but then I learnt how to ignore them.
A flash of lightining blinded the pilot while he was trying to land
Un relámpago cegó el piloto cuando estaba tratando de aterrizar.
preterit blinded single event took place in past, trying to land imperfect habitual activity taking place in past
My sentence
The dinner guests came at 5:30 and we found out the truth about our friends job loss.
Last night my wife surprised me with the news that she had ordered NFL Sunday Ticket.
Mi esposa me sorprendió anoche con la noticia de que había ordenado el boleto del NFL domingo.
Sorprendió is preterit because single action in past. Había ordenado is past perfect, action happened before some other action happened.
When we went on vacation, we rented a car with a GPS that was always telling us to "take the next exit and make a legal U turn". It drove us crazy.
I used to hate going to school when I was a teenager, but now I am glad that I went to college.
Odiaba ir a la escuela cuando era un adolscente, pero ahora me alegro de que fuera a la universidad
Odiar is the imprefect because it was ongoing she habitually hated going to school Ser because the fact of her being teenager was going along with first action. It also give some background. Ir in the subjunctive because the verb in the second part because it expresses an emotion.
A flash of lightining blinded the pilot while he was trying to land
Given:
I was about to go to bed, but the hypnotic lights from SpanishDict called to me from across the room, so I stayed up for another hour.
Translated:
Estaba por acostarme, pero las luces hipnóticas de SpanishDict me llamaban desde el otro lado de la habitación, así que me quedé una hora más.
Reasons:
OK I'm probably going to get it for this one lol but here goes:
Estaba - imperfects (as suggested by G) setting the scene I guess
me llamaban - imperfect, although the English sounds like it should be the preterite, the way I looked at it was that the lights in fact would have been 'calling' over a period of time so I used the imperfect.
me quedé - preterite - it was touch and go with this one because I'm thinking technically it's a physical state/condition in the past but seeing as a specific period of time is mentioned and it's kind of alluding to a beginning there - right or wrong lol, I used the preterite.
New Sentence:
It was raining, so the cat was curled up in front of the fire; he was very surprised when a hot ember landed on him.
Given: The dinner guests came at 5:30 and we found out the truth about our friends job loss.
Translation: Los invitados a la cena llegaron a las 5:30 y nos enteramos de la verdad sobre la pérdida del trabajo de nuestro amigo.
Explanation: Both llegaron and enteramos are in the preterit because they are one time events that happened in the past.
New Sentence: Last night my wife surprised me with the news that she had ordered NFL Sunday Ticket.
It was raining so the cat was curled up in front of the fire, he was very surprised when a hot ember landed on him.
LLovía, así que el gato se acurrucaba en el frente del fuego; se sorprendió cuando un ascua caliente le cayó encima.
==Imperfect is for setting a scene in the past (raining, curled up); Preterite for single events in the past (surprised, landed).
New sentence:
Day by day she felt more and more lonely in her marriage and kept on asking herself if this was yet another wrong decision.
Given:
The dinner guests came at 5:30 and we found out the truth about our friends job loss.
Translated:
Los huéspedes de la cena llegaron a las 5:30 y nos enteramos de la verdad sobre la pérdida de empleo/trabajo de nuestro amigo.
Reason:
llegaron - preterite - completed single action of arriving
nos enteramos - preterite - single completed action of finding out
New Sentence:
A couple of weeks ago I was off climbing mountains in the snow but a few months ago we purchased tickets to spend two weeks on the sunny island of Rarotonga.
Given: 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 era un marinero de Navy. Movamos más de vente veces. Mis padres quitaban niños en cada costa despues de que se hubieron graduado la escuela secondario.
1st- era used becuase young was an extended state of being. Then era because the father's occupation was extended. Then the moving was preterite since it was a series of events. Then the parents left kids after graduating, an extended process.
Sentence:
As a teenager, Juan ran every day to the supermarket. One day he found a pet monkey for sale!
Given sentence: After the movie ended, we left the cinema thinking this wasn't the best way to spend the night.
Después del fin de la película, saliamos la cena pensando que esto no era la manera mejor a pasar la noche.
This one is tricky for me. I might also say, "Después de la película se terminó,..." but I'm not 100% sure. If I were actually saying this I'd use my first translation.
I've used the preterite for terminar because the movie ended once and I'm reflecting back on it. I used imperfect for "salir" because although we only left the theater once, we also were ding something else while leaving so it was an ongoing action. Is that correct logic? New Sentence: I learned most of my Spanish in school.
given sentence I thought this game would help many of us to get a better handle on the uses of the preterite and the imperfect - should I have tried a different subject?
Yo pensaba que este juego podría ayudar a muchos de nosotros para conseguir un mejor manejo de los usos del pretérito y el imperfecto -¿debe he tratado un tema diferente?
I think imperfect because you thought about it more than once.
Bye the way, this was the new sentence, but that is OK. I didn't really make it clear.
New Sentence. No, Marie. I needed the practice, but easier sentences this time like I worked on in the phrase book for 3 hours today.
My sentence: Sanlee studied a lot and practiced every day, and then one day she met with a Costa Rican friend, and suddenly she realized that she could carry a conversation in Spanish with little effort!
Sanlee estudiaba mucho y practicaba a diario, y entonces un día se encontró con un amigo de costarricense, y de repente ella se dio cuenta de que podría llevar una conversación en español con el esfuerzo pequeño!
first to imperfect because actions repeated habitually next preterit one day she met, next preterit one day she realized Single events
My sentence.
When my son was eight years old, he was in my sister-in-law's wedding and he caught the garter belt. Yesterday, we watched the video that showed him putting the garter on the woman who caught the bouquet. I had forgotten all about it.
Sentence Given:
I learned most of my Spanish in school.
Aprendí la mayor parte de mi español en la escuela.
Preterite because it's an action that happened in the past and ended.
New Sentence:
I used to swim everyday when I was young.
