In Spanish there are two verb tenses that correspond to the past simple in English: preterite and imperfect. The imperfect is used to describe what it used to be like, to tell repeated events in the past, and what someone used to do:

La actividad comenzaba siempre al amanecer.

The activity always used to start at sunrise.

 

Regular Verbs Ending in -ar, -er and -ir

Note that in the imperfect,  the endings of the 1st and 3rd person singular are the same with each other for all the verbs. Note also that the endings of –er and –ir verbs are the same in all the personal forms and the letter i has an accent mark on top of it in all the personal forms in the imperfect tense.

Eran las tres de la tarde.

It was three o’clock in the afternoon.

Mis abuelos iban a la iglesia todos los domingos.

My grandparents went to church every Sunday.

 

The Use of Preterite and Imperfect

There are two different past tenses in Spanish that are equivalent to the past simple tense in English. These two different past tenses are the preterite and the imperfect. These two tenses can get easily mixed up but certain rules determine when each tense is used. The preterite describes a single event that is completed within a limited time frame in the past, whereas the imperfect is used to describe circumstances or situations in the past. The imperfect is used to describe what it used to be like, what the weather was like, what time it was and what someone used to do.

When a sentence includes a time expression that refers to the past, is precisely limited and has ended, the preterite is used in Spanish, e.g.:

• ayer = yesterday
• anoche = last night
• la semana pasada = last week
• el mes pasado = last month
• el año pasado = last year
• el año 2014 = the year 2014

Ayer fui al cine con mi amiga.

Yesterday I went to the movies with my friend.

 

The imperfect is used when talking about the past, what someone used to do or to describe circumstances or situations in the past:

Cuando era joven tenía el pelo largo.

When I was young, I had long hair.

Eran las cuatro de la tarde.

It was four o’clock in the afternoon.

 

The imperfect and the preterite often occur in the same sentence. In such cases, the imperfect describes the situation, environment, or habitual actions, while the preterite describes a single, temporally limited, completed event:

Mientras tú dormías, yo terminé mi tarea.

While you slept, I finished my homework.

The imperfect is used to describe a situation that was ongoing in the past. The preterite is used to move the story forward (it started to rain):

Mientras caminábamos por el parque, empezó a llover.

When we were walking through the park, it started to rain.

The imperfect is used to tell what one used to do (When I was young, I used to travel a lot). The preterite is used to tell about single, temporally limited events that are unrelated to the present (in 2019, I travelled to Japan for the first time):

Cuando era joven, viajaba mucho, pero en 2019 viajé a Japón por primera vez.

When I was young, I used to travel a lot, but in 2019, I travelled to Japan for the first time.

 

Some verbs have different meanings in the imperfect and preterite:

• conocer:

conocí (preterite) a muchas personas = I met many people

conocía (imperfect) a muchas personas = I knew many people

Cuando trabajaba en la oficina, conocí a muchas personas interesantes.

When I worked in the office, I met many interesting people.

• haber:

hubo (preteriti) un error = an error occurred

había (imperfekti) una cola larga en la calle = there was a long line in the street

• saber:

supe (preteriti) que era mi hermano = I found out that he was my brother

sabía (imperfekti) que era mi hermano = I knew he was my brother

• tener:

tuvo (preteriti) cinco hijos = she had five children (gave birth)

tenía (imperfekti) cinco hijos = she had five children (raised)