Imperfecto - my theory

Question

Hello I wanted to ask you about the Spanish Imperfecto. I've noticed that on the internet we got a lot of explanations, but it is just a mix of 2 English tenses.

• Past Continuous
• Used to construction

Mientras entré la casa, María escribía una carta - continuous

Visitar el estadio siempre era mi sueño - used to

Do I think right?

By the way, how to say "I wanted" in a case like this in my first sentence of this post? I'd use the indefinifo, but I guess both of them would be correct.

Thanks

Answer 1

Mientras entré la casa, María escribía una carta - continuous

In these cases the imperfecto is a timeline during which another action takes place, so it makes more sense that entering the house happened while Maria was writing a letter rather than vise versa. It should then be: Yo entré la casa mientras María escribía una carta or reverse order of clauses: Mientras María escribía una carta Yo entré la casa.

Yes, actually that's they way it should be written. - Oshnaj, Oct 5, 2016

Answer 2

The adverb "mientras" introduces action that was ongoing so it needs to be followed by the imperfect. ---"Mientras entraba la casa------etc."

You have it right about "used to "or "past continuous" action. But adverbs and adverbial phrases in the past also introduce the imperfect.

The English version of what Oshnaj stated above would be.

(1). No sabia que estabas ahí. (I did not know you were there.)

(2) . No lo supe hasta más tarde. (I did not "find out" until later.)

Conocía bien a María. (I knew Maria well.)

La conocí cuando vivía en Madrid. ( I "met" her when I lived in Madrid.)

There are other verbs that change in meaning from imperfect to preterite, but just learn them as they come along. If you had the textbook "Panorama" I could tell you what pages to find the material on.

Answer 3

When the imperfect form is translated as used to, would or past continuous, it's because its use is idiomatic.

1. used to is known for solía.
2. would + base form is known as the imperfect form for repeated actions in the past: hacía, comía, terminaba, jugaba, paseaba, etc.
3. estuve/estaba + gerund is known as the past continuous and in many cases is used for interpreting the imperfect form: estaba jugando = I was playing.

There's no easy way to get out of this. Even the past simple forms invoke the imperfect. Depending on the context:

1. No sabía que estabas ahí. (= during a period.)
2. No supe que llegó. (= particular action in the past.)