What about the Imperfect

Chris C.C1Kwiziq community member

What about the Imperfect

I thought general experiences were talked about in the Imperfect.  The time markers given in this lesson match up with https://progress.lawlessspanish.com/learn/theme/746448.

And also this lesson seems to indicate using the Imperfect:

Using the imperfect tense in Spanish to express habits or repeated actions in the past (El Pretérito Imperfecto)

Asked 3 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola Chris

Those are two different lessons and two different contexts. The lesson about the Imperfect is about actions that were habits in the past or repeated actions:

Cuando era pequeña, cada verano iba a Mallorca con mis padres.

Yo hacía mucha gimnasia de pequeña. 

Repeated actions or things one used to do during a period.

The lesson about using El Pretérito Indefinido for experiences is talking about general experiences in life, generally seen as things that you have ever done/never done:

Yo nunca besé a nadie.

(We understand here that this person has never kissed anyone - hasn't had that experience)

Jaime aprendió muchos idiomas. 

(Here we understand that Jaime had that experience of learning languages in his life)

This tense is used to talk about these experiences and we don't give any relevance to when those happened or how many times; they are simply general experiences.

I hope this clarified it.

Saludos

Inma

 

Chris C. asked:

What about the Imperfect

I thought general experiences were talked about in the Imperfect.  The time markers given in this lesson match up with https://progress.lawlessspanish.com/learn/theme/746448.

And also this lesson seems to indicate using the Imperfect:

Using the imperfect tense in Spanish to express habits or repeated actions in the past (El Pretérito Imperfecto)

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