Imperfectos
Hi, When is it right to use verbos imperfectos and for what context? Thanks
1 Answer
It is probably impossible to describe the use of the imperfect tense without linking it to the other past tenses. Each past tense can effectively be describe by which tenses it is not.
It is customary to present the imperfect tense next to the preterit when teaching English speakers.
An alternative explanation, and by far the easiest to understand if you can understand it, is that the imperfect tense is a progressive past tense. Progressive means continuous. In English we form a lot of our progressive tenses as the "ING" form. I am writING this right now. He was goING home. etc.
Usually people say the imperfect " sets the stage " or " paints the setting " and the preterit is the action for which you have set the stage or painted the setting.
Here is an example:
In English we would say " I hit him and he give me the book." En español se dice "Lo Golpeé entonces me dio el libro." In this tense, the preterit, we know for a fact that it was after I finished hitting him that he gave me the book. One thing happened and then the other.
We are saying that after I hit him he gave me the book.
Alternatively we form a progressive form as "I was hitting him and he gave me the book." En español se dice "Yo lo Golpeaba y me dio el libro." In this tense, the imperfect, while I was hitting him, mientras, he gave me the book. Maybe I stopped hitting him, maybe I didn't, the point is while I was doing it he gave me that book.
