The Past Tenses in Spanish: learn how to use them

In this lesson you will learn the Pretérito Indefinido (Fui: I went). This is one of the simple past tenses in Spanish, and strict rules apply when we decide if we use it instead of the Pretérito Imperfecto.

There could be some flexibility when determining the difference in use between the Pretérito Perfecto and the Pretérito Indefinido (both referring to ‘one time’ actions and events). Therefore, in some cases, using one instead of the other might not be a grammatical mistake but and idiomatic tendency (or a use related to how the speaker considers or sees the action or event). That is why there are different uses in Spain in Latin America.

But the difference in use between the Pretérito Indefinido and the Pretérito Imperfecto (which comes in the following sections) is stated by grammar rules that really cannot be missed, and using one when the other one is to be used will sound incorrect to a native, might create confusion – because part of the meaning of the action or event changes – and will be grammatically incorrect.

In this lesson I am reading another text. This time I explain what I did yesterday and last week, so the time period I am mentioning in the sentences is not finished, and this is one of the reasons we use this tense and not the Pretérito Perfecto.

In this section I explain the Pretérito Imperfecto – Iba: I went/I was going/I used to go. I also clarify when if has to be used instead of the Pretérito Indefinido.

In other languages there is no distinction between these two simple pasts. There is just one simple past that is used in both cases in which we make a difference between one or the other in Spanish. In some languages there are alternative constructions (but not a verb tense as such) to give the meaning that the Pretérito Imperfecto has in Spanish. For instance, things like I used to go to play football or It was raining when you called.

In this lesson I talk about another verb form that can be used sometimes as an alternative to the Pretérito Imperfecto, when we want to say that we were doing something at a moment… when something else happened.   

Estaba comiendo cuando llegó el cartero: I was eating when the postman arrived.

In this lesson I speak of what I used to do when I was a kid, so you will learn how to talk to other people about your childhood, or other past times in your life. When speaking about habits and circumstances in the past we use the Pretérito Imperfecto, and when we mention one-time events in the past we then use the Pretérito Indefinido.

In this lesson I am reading an extract of the beginning of a novel called ‘Pedro Páramo’, written by the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo. He was a well-known writer considered to be the creator of some literary writing techniques and styles.

I particularly like this beginning because I find it very sensitive and poetic. I like how it transmits the feelings of the character and how it describes the situation he is in.

Both the Pretérito Indefinido and the Pretérito Imperfecto are used, depending on the meaning (aspects of the time when they happened and how they were performed) of the actions or events. Mainly, the Indefinido is used for single time past events and the Imperfecto refers to habits in the past, circumstances in which other events take place in the past and descriptions in the past.

In the lesson there is a pdf document with the translation of the text in English. Since it is literary language, there might be some words you have not learned yet. Don´t worry, this is a good chance to learn them!

In this lesson you will learn how to describe a situation in which an event happens. It is an audio with a text where I am describing events in the past and placing them in circumstances and situations that surrounded those events. What I am doing is like telling a story. It is similar to the use of the the Pretérito Indefinido and the Pretérito Imperfecto in the extract of the novel before.

In this lesson you will listen to a text I am reading where I talk about how my life was in the past, when I worked as a teacher in The Netherlands. I use the pretérito Indefinido and the Imperfecto, and also the Present tense when I compare how it was before with how my life is now.

This listening and reading exercise will help you make the difference between all these tenses so you can also talk about how your life was in past, what you used to do and also to talk about certain events, and compare it all to the present time.