The Preterite and The Imperfect

Question

Hello Everyone,

I am confused and I hope somebody can help me out. Not even my professor seems to be able to help me with this, nor can my classmates or some family. Im confused when it comes to expressing what happened in the past. For example, I wrote in class "Etuve un payaso para halloween", I was told I should have used "era". Im just not sure when to use fui, estuve, or sometimes era. Can someone break this down CLEARLY?? I know the imperfect is used to describe habitual actions that happened in the past, but if thats the case then how would I use it to say I was a clown for a given halloween it wasnt habitual. If you can help me clear this up that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Also I forgot to mention Fui also. Im basically confused as to the uses between Fui, Estuve, and Era - alexnsactown, Apr 14, 2012

Answer 1

Pretérito imperfecto a. acciones habituales en el pasado b. descripción de personas o cosas c. circunstancias y contextos

Ejemplos: Mi hermano y yo jugabamos al escondite en calle con nuestros amigos (habitual) Estaba muy pequeña (personas) quando iba (habitual) a la escuela. Yo amaba mi escuela porque estaba muy buena y agradable (descripcion).El martes iba a la piscina (habitual) que estaba muy limpia (descripcion de cosas). Hacía frío y llovía (circonstacia)

Narración: acciones y acontecimientos relacionados con el presente: perfecto no relacionadas con el presente: indefinido

Ejemplos: Hoy he llegado tarde, este semana he leido una historia muy interesante, este mes he pagando mucho dinero, este año he conocido personas diferentes, ....

Anoche fui a casa muy tarde, tomé café y me acosté

Pretérito perfecto y indefinido tienen adverbios especiales, y tiene que buscarlos.

I was a clown: it's description of person in the past, so which time you should use?

Nice answer :) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 14, 2012

Answer 2

  SER        Present   Past     Future 

Yo soy fui seré I

Tu eres eras serás you

El o Ella es era será He or She

nosotros somos fuimos seremos We

ustedes son eran seran You PLURAL

ESTAR PLACE

YO Estoy Estuve Estare

Tu EStas Estabas Estaras

El o Ella Esta Estaba Estara

Nosotros Estamos Estabamos Estaremos

Ustedes Estan Estaban Estaran

Conjugation table ser or estar

Answer 3

Yo fui un payaso en Halloween... Sorry I doesn´t know what given means in this sentence I speak spanish.. To be that means ser or estar.. Estar is for a place I am at home Yo esto en casa.. Ser I can not defined but in this case you must use the imperfective past of ser .. fui

Hope it helps

Yo estoy* en casa ... sorry I miss a y - benjoz80, Apr 14, 2012

Answer 4

¡Muchas gracias por sus respuestas! Las fueron muy utíl para mi y me siento muy cómodo ahorita.Tengo que continuar practicando y usando estes conceptos para hacer mejor.

Answer 5

http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/pretimp1.htm (12 section unit solely for helping you to better understand the preterite and imperfect.)

!Gracias! - alexnsactown, Apr 16, 2012

La pagina fue muy utíl, y muy facil a leer. - alexnsactown, Apr 16, 2012

Answer 6

The simple past, or preterit has always been described to me as a specific event with a specific beginning and end.

The imperfect is anything else that doesn't fit in as preterit.

Etuve un payaso para halloween.

I think there are a couple of typos, and if so, it reads, "Estuve un payaso para Halloween". -- I was a clown for Halloween.

In this case, I the reader do not know which specific Halloween is being referred to, so yes, I would use "era". -- Era un payaso para Halloween.

If you were conveying to me the reader a specific Halloween, "I was a clown for last year's Halloween", last year; one specific event, with a definite beginning and end, I would you the preterit or simple past. "Fui un payaso para Halloween del año pasado."

Preterit vs. Imperfect on Spanishdict.com.

Preterite: Part I on Studyspanish.com --#63, and then there are other links that are helpful, too.