Which is more common, Preterite or Imperfect?

Question

Which is more common, preterite, or imperfect?

yolo - Natedog4182, Mar 27, 2014

Please fill out your profile correctly , so we may better help you . Welcome to the forum. Buena suerte. - ray76, Mar 28, 2014

Answer 1

Think of the preterite as "did" and the imperfect as "was doing" or "used to".

"Hablé con Roberto y me dijo que sí. "I talked to Robert and he told me yes." "Hablaba con Roberto y siempre me decía que sí."I talked to Robert (over a period of time) and he (always) said yes."

"Yo fui a la bodega a comprar papa pero no había. "I went to the store to buy potatoes but there weren't any."

"Yo iba a la bodega a comprar papa pero no había." "I used to go to the store to buy potatoes but they never had any."

"Yo iba a la bodega a comprar papa, Entonces me di cuenta de haberme perdido la libreta." "I was on my way to the store (I was going) to buy potatoes. Then I realized (right there at that moment) that I had lost my ration card."

Also, check out "soler". "Solía comprar papa....."

Satchmo used to say (solía decir) "red beans and rice, that's nice." I say, "Moros y cristianos (black beans and rice), chévere.

Ojalá que te sirva.

Good Don, but you don't really need the pronoun yo with the sentence, Fui a la bondega since fui can only mean I - FELIZ77, Mar 28, 2014

I would use 'para' comprar papas - FELIZ77, Mar 28, 2014

Answer 2

It really depends on what you are saying or want to say. The imperfect indicative is used, amongst other things, for example to:

talk about actions you used to do/were doing ...

p/ej: Jugábamos el voleibol en la playa todos los días, en el verano. = We used to play Volleyball on the beach every day in the summer.

Set the scene for stories,,,

p/ej: Cantaban el la sala cuando de repente se fue la luz =They were singing in the living room when sudddenly the lights went out!

Express an action that was going on in the past when another action occurred:

Mi hermano leía cuando mi madre entró = My brother was reading when my mother came in.

The preterite, in contrast, is used to express an action that has been completed. It is for something that occurs just once.

Nació en Los estados Unidos = She was born in the United States.

Murió anoche. = He died last night.

I am not convinced that you could truly say that one tense, eg, imperfect indicative (within the Indicative mood) is used any more than any other!.

All the tenses are important across all the 4 moods and you will need to learn how to use them at some point in the future if you truly desire to master the language. ( However, future sunbjunctive is rarely used in spoken Spanish being found mainly in works of literature) but when you are starting to learn, the tenses in the indicative mood are the best starting point: eg, present indicative, future indicative etc.

The 4 moods are:..

Indicative mood

Subjunctive mood

Imperative mood

I'm sorry, I have forgotten the 4th one I'm sure somene will remind me lol

I hope this helps

Thanks mate, great to see you again , how are you , and where are you living now? - ray76, Mar 28, 2014

I am very well, Thanks Ray and You? I am still living in England, and you? Are you still living Down Under ? lol Was it Perth, where you were last ttine I chatted with you on Skype? - FELIZ77, Mar 28, 2014

Answer 3

I agree with donbigote

Answer 4

Both are used all of the time- sometimes in the same sentence.