What tense do I use to write in a diary/journal?
i keep a daily diary (Journal) where i talk about my day. i write at night about the day I had, but I'm not sure what tense I should be using. Preterite or Imperfect?
2 Answers
You use whichever tense is appropriate. A quick example before I share a link with you.
I was reading a book when suddenly my boyfriend called.
Leía (or "estaba leyendo") un libro cuando de repente me llamó mi novio.
Link to my article on preterite and imperfect
Marvin6717 wrote:
i keep a daily diary (Journal) where i talk about my day. i write at night about the day I had, but I'm not sure what tense I should be using. Preterite or Imperfect?
Marvin:
First of all, writing a diary in Spanish is a terrific idea. It is a great way to make sure that you write a little bit in Spanish every day which will really help you to progress.
Secondly, Daniela gave you a great answer to your specific question about talking about past events in Spanish. And I think her article is one of the best I have read on the topic.
I just wanted to give you a couple of things to consider. If you are a real beginner, I apologize if any of this confuses you. If it does, you might want to just ignore it for now and read it again some time in the future.
If you are trying to learn Peninsular Spanish (the Spanish spoken in Spain) in most cases you would want to use the Present Perfect (He hablado con Pedro) (I have talked with Pedro) when referring to a day that is not finished yet. If you refer to yesterday or before, then the preterite would be used. In Latin America and the United States the preterite is generally used for events that occurred earlier in the day.
In Spanish, as in English, you can can also use the present tense to wrikte about the past. Using the present for the past is, however, much less common than using the past: it gives the feeling that you are reliving the moment. For example: So I call John and he tells me to come right over. Then he says "I have a big surprise for you." The best writers often use "present for the past" and true past tenses in the same story for variety and to make the reader feel different emotions.
In addition to writing about what happened in your day, many diarists like to write about how they feel about something in the present. "Man, I really love soccer (fútbol) right now!"
Also, some like to write about future plans, either the next day or hopes and plans in the distant future. Believe it or not, writing about future plans and accomplishments actually helps them to happen! (I am an ex-director of strategic planning, so I'm a big believer in this.)
You might want to consider, as you learn a new verb tense (or mood) in Spanish that you try to incorporate it into your dairy. Only through practice do we improve and remember.
Finally...writing, without receiving corrections, is better than not writing at all. However, you can learn so more much by learning what mistakes you have made and then trying not to make them again. In fact, if you go too long writing with certain mistakes, without having your writing reviewed, it can be difficult to "unlearn" your mistakes.
Therefore, feel free to periodically upload portions of your diary (after deleting anything too personal) to SpanishDict. Someone here will review what you have written, correct your mistakes and even explain to you why you might have made certain errors or provide a link to an article or previous question/answers about the topic.
Again, way to go! A daily diary in Spanish...that's impressive!
P.S. SD members: I love your votes and I adore your comments. 
