how do you know when to use imperfect or preterite?
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how do you know when to use imperfect or preteritte
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updated Oct 17, 2010
posted by lynnm
2 Answers
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there are many articles like this available online....google or search previous topics on this forum.
Example previous thread
updated Oct 17, 2010
edited by 0074b507
posted by 0074b507
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A native speaker does not "know", or at least not consciously. We use one or the other depending on how we want to recreate a past situation in our speech: if we want to visualize the whole event as a finished or delimited one, we use preterite; if we don't, we use imperfect. That's it!
updated Oct 17, 2010
posted by lazarus1907
