I Never Used to Get Bored at Work
There was an interesting question yesterday and I want to go back to it, first to see if this summary seems correct and second, just to point out something interesting in the understanding of preterite v imperfect in Spanish.
Rosa asked how to say, I never used to get bored at work, wondering whether to use the preterite or the imperfect. Most responders thought it obviously should be in the imperfect, as a continuing action in the past. This seems to be true only if you use the verb soler to construct the sentence:
Nunca solía aburrirme en la trabaja.
If you skip the soler construction and just go with aburrirme, you use the preterite for this negative statement:
Nunca me aburré en mi trabajo. (I never got bored at work).
However if you say it without the negative (and you'll forgive that double negative, I hope), you would opt for the imperfect:
Me aburría en mi trabajo (aunque que ya me fascina el trabajo y no estoy aburrido).
4 Answers
Getting bored is an event, so it should be in the preterite.
Being bored is a situation, so it should be in the imperfect (unless you are talking about the situation as a whole as a completed event).
In English, people often refer to the event when they mean the situation. That is, when they say they got bored they are not refering to the event, but rather to the situation (or state) that followed this event. In otherwords, "I never used to get bored at work" really means "I never used to be bored at work."
My take:
You don't really mean used to in the negative, unless you are saying, now I do.
I never used to get bored at work = I never got bored at work...... preterite.
I never used to get bored at work but now I do...... imperfect.
I used to get bored at work and now I don't.......imperfect.
I used to get bored at work = I got bored at work...... preterite
That's because "used to" means, and now I don't. UNLESS you are talking about a habitual action. I think is where the confusion lies. I used to eat an apple everyday as a child. More relevent: Pues cuando yo me aburria en mi trabajo solo me tomaba un redbull o Monster y me ponia a platicar. This was a habitual past action. Everytime he got bored he drank a redbull and started to chat.
Soler is immune to this because it really means, to "usually" (to me). Soler is never used around here btw and the imperfect is much more common.
Yes Jeremias, I would agree and say that you would either need to use the soler construction or else use the imperfect in order to convey the idea of ''used to'' because the preterite construction is used for actions that have been completed at some time in the past whereas the imperfect is used for actions that a person did habitually. in the past.
I accept what you said about the use of the preterite or the imperfect indicative without the negative. However, since there are a number of verbs which change their meaning when used in the past:..you (one) would have to be careful when using/translating into the preterite indicative that you didn't change the meaning of the sentence!
Here are some examples:
1 La conocí la semana pasadaen el baile = I met her last week at the dance.
(Conocer which means to know or be acquainted with, means met, that is be introduced to for the first time in the preterite)
2 Pude hacerlo = I succeeded in doing it
(Poder which means to be able, means succeeded in the past)
3 Quise llamarle = I tried to call you
( Querer, which means to wish or want, means tried in the preterite)
These examples and explanations courtesy of Kendris C and T 501 SpanishVerbs 7th Edition.
I hope you find my responses helpful and interesting 
The participle should work as well?
Nunca había aburrido en el trabajo. I was never bored at work.
