Need with preterite/imperfect

Question

The topic was when i was a child...

If I was saying "por ejemplo, yo miraba la television" would that be in the imperfect, since it's background information?

I had a little trouble differentiating between the preterite and imperfect. Please look over it, and tell me if it needs correction.

Answer 1

Yes you are definitely on the right track, the key is to decide if you're describing an action that was completed in the past at the time that you are referring to (pret) or if you are describing an ongoing action that was going on at the time that you are referring to (imp). I hope that this lesson might help Pret vs Imp

Thanks Kiwi_Girl. This is great. Visuals always work for me!! - kdrinning, Jun 27, 2012

:) - Kiwi-Girl, Jun 27, 2012

Answer 2

Yo miraba a la tele.

Answer 3

I believe the imperfect is correct here, because this is something you did for an extended, indefinite period of time when you were a child.

Answer 4

The pretérito would be used if you did whatever activity once, or when you want to be specific about a past event: yo miré televisión el 10 de octubre de 1962

The imperfecto would be used to describe a past habit, or whenever you're not being specific about something in the past: yo miraba tv todos los días después de llegar del colegio