Understanding past tense in Spanish + examples in context 🏂⛱️🤔

In Spanish we have two main past tenses (indefinite and imperfect) when it comes to talk about situations that happened in the past. If your mother tongue is a Romance language such as italian or french, you won’t have any problem with it, since they share the same uses in your mother tongue.

However, if your first language is, say English, it’s gonna take some time to figure out when to use each one according to the situation. Some people claim it’s one of the most difficult topics in Spanish, but the truth is it’s not that hard if we start using some key words that guide us until we get to the point it becomes something natural to us.

The real problem isn’t the level of difficulty but the fact there’s something new that requires some time of practice with grammar exercise, as well as conversations and situations where these tenses are used in context.

On this post, we’re gonna take a look at the main characteristics of both tenses, examples, and how they’re used in context. We’re going to start with a conversation, then explanation of the particular tense, key words, and then a speaking practice exercise.

Conversation using preterite indefinite

• Diana: ¡Hola Pablo! ¿Cómo vas?
• Pablo: ¡Hola Diana! Todo muy bien, ¿y tú?
• Diana: La verdad tengo resaca, me duele la cabeza, el estómago y no me acuerdo de nada.
• Pablo: ¿En serio? ¡Qué chistoso!
• Diana: ¡Qué malo eres! No te burles. En serio no me siento muy bien. Creo que tomé mucho ayer.
• Pablo: ¿Tú crees? Pero lo importante es que te la pasaste bien.
• Diana: Pues sí, la verdad sí. Todo fue muy divertido y bailé un montón. ¿Y tú? ¿A qué horas llegaste a tu casa?
• Pablo: Yo llegué a mi casa como a la 1, no bebí tanto como tú. Me acuerdo que te vi bailando encima de una mesa e invitaste a todo el mundo a un trago.
• Diana: ¿Qué? Dime que no es cierto lo que dices. ¡Qué vergüenza!
• Pablo: Si es cierto. Gastaste mucho dinero ayer, pero valió la pena, porque por fin cumpliste 25 años y la pasaste increíble.
• Diana: Mejor no me cuentes más. Necesito una pastilla.

Translation

• Diana: Hi Pablo! How is it going?
• Pablo: Hi Diana! Everything is fine, what about you?
• Diana: The truth is I’m hungover, my head hurts, my stomach hurts and I don’t remember anything.
• Pablo: Really? That’s hilarious!
• Diana: You’re so bad! Don’t make fun of me. I really don’t feel very good. I think I drank too much yesterday.
• Pablo: You think? But the important thing here is you had a good time.
• Diana: Well yes, that’s right. It was pretty fun and I danced a lot. And you? What time did you get home?
• Pablo: I got home around 1 a.m, I didn’t drink as much as you. I remember I saw you dancing on a table and you bought everyone a shot.
• Diana: what? Tell me what you’re saying it’s not true. How embarrasing!
• Pablo: Yeah, it’s true. You spent a lot of money yesterday, but it was worth it, because you finally turned 25 and had an amazing time.
• Diana: Don’t tell me more. I need a pill.

When to use preterite indefinite?

We use the past tense number 1 when we talk about something that ocurred in a specific moment, it began and ended in a very concrete time.

Say, I want to talk about what I ate in the morning, I have to use this tense, and also if I describe the things I did yesterday. It’s pretty common to be used when I’m listing things I did in a specific day, month, or even a year.

For example: «In February I didn’t have lessons: En febrero no tuve clases» or «Ayer me levanté temprano, desayuné y me fui a trabajar: Yesterday I got up early, had breakfast. and I left for work».

If it’s still confusing, I have good news for you cause there are some fixed words that make us this process easier since they match more with one tense than the other one.

Here’s a list of words that are usually accompanied by preterite indefinite.

Conversation using preterite imperfect

• Pablo: Oye, cambiando de tema…. no vi a tu hermana ayer en el bar. ¿Dónde estaba?
• Diana: No se sentía muy bien, estaba un poco triste.
• Pablo: No sabía. ¿Le pasó algo?
• Diana: No realmente, pero terminó con su novio. Ya no lo quería.
• Pablo: ¡Wow! Pobrecita.
• Diana: ¿Quieres que te cuente por qué terminaron?
• Pablo: Obvio. Soy todo oídos.
• Diana: Al principio Federico era muy amable, relajado y cariñoso, pero después se volvió muy tóxico.
• Pablo: ¿En serio?
• Diana: Sí, le revisaba el celular todo el tiempo, no podía salir con sus amigas porque él se enojaba y siempre estaba pensando que ella tenía otro novio.
• Pablo: No tenía idea. ¿Y tú hermana que hacía?
• Diana: Al principio no ponía atención a su comportamiento, pero se cansó de él y decidió dejarlo.
• Pablo: ¡Interesante! Tal vez la invite a salir algún día.
• Diana: Ni lo pienses.

Translation

• Pablo: Hey, changing the subject… I didn’t see your sister yesterday at the bar. Where was she?
• Diana: She wasn’t feeling very well, she was a little sad.
• Pablo: I didn’t know. Did something happen to her?
• Diana: Not really, but she broke up with her boyfriend. She didn’t love him anymore.
• Pablo: Wow! Poor girl!
• Diana: Do you want me to tell you why they broke up?
• Pablo: Obviously! I’m all ears.
• Diana: At the beginning, Federico was very kind, easygoing, and loving, but then he became very toxic.
• Pablo: For real?
• Diana: Yeah. He checked her cell phone all the time, she couldn’t go out with her friends because he would get mad and he was always thinking that she had another boyfriend.
• Pablo: I had no idea. And your sister, what did she do?
• Diana: At first she didn’t pay attention to her behavior, but she got tired, and decided to leave him.
• Pablo: Interesting! Maybe I’ll ask her out someday.
• Diana: Don’t even think about it.

When to use preterite imperfect?

Before, we talked about the characteristics of the first past tense, now we’re gonna move to the second preterite tense. This tense is used when we talked about habits and repetitive actions in the past, in other words, when we describe things that were part of our routine, or happened several times.

For example, if I want to describe the way I looked as a child, I have to use this past tense, as well as if I mention the kind of things I liked when I was a certain age. We also must use the second past tense for talking about how we felt in the past.

In English, the most appropiate way of relating these terms is through the usage of used to and would, in sentences such as: «I used to like vegetables» In Spanish we can say: «Me solían gustar los vegetales», but it’s not as common as saying: «Me gustaban los vegetales».

Another example would be: «I would visit my grandparents every summer» wich can be translated as: «Visitaba a mis abuelos cada verano».

Besides talking about habits, we also use it for describing a background about a situation, it’s like if you were looking at a picture and you’re interested in telling everyone about what what was going on there, the weather, people’s feelings, and the clothes they were wearing.

Let’s say you witnessed a robbery and you want to give all the details, you need to mention what they were like, what time it was, and how you felt. If you want to give that information, you’ll have to use this tense. For example: «The thieves had their faces covered: Los ladrones tenían sus caras cubiertas» or «I was scared: Estaba muy asustado»

Speaking practice

Here’s a list of questions with both tenses for practing your speaking skills. Remember to take a look at the previous words and expressions studied before for answering accurately. Another thing to take into account is when we talk, we can mix both tenses depending on what we say.

Confusing, right? Let me explain it with an example, say, I asked you about your day, and you listed what you did, but then you told me you felt tired in the morning. In that case, for describing yuur feelings you use the second past tense, while the activities will need the first past tense.