I made a couple of mistakes in my last communication. The title should have said, "the Spanish Preterito Indefinito" not "the Spanish Preterito Imperfecto. Second, the word "open" should be removed where it appears at the end of a sentence. Sorry everyone.
To talk about actions that took place in the past we can use both El Pretérito Imperfecto and El Pretérito Indefinido.
Which one you need to use depends on whether you (or the speaker) consider the beginning and end of the action, or if you consider the action to be completed. This can be tricky for English speakers to understand because both tenses are usually translated the same in English.
Let's have a look at these examples:
In the first example where El Pretérito Imperfecto is used (abría) we can visualize a door in the process of being opened however in the second example where El Pretérito Indefinido is used, we can see a completely open door.
So the main difference between using these two tenses is:
El Pretérito Imperfecto for actions in the past with no clear beginning and end.
El Pretérito Indefinido for actions in the past with a clear beginning and end.
Have a look at other examples in both tenses:
Trabajaba = we can see Susana working.
Trabajó = we can see Susana when she finished her work.
Los chicos corrían por los pasillos haciendo ruido.
The boys ran along the corridors making noise.
Los chicos corrieron por los pasillos haciendo ruido.
The boys ran along the corridors making noise.
Corrían = we can see the boys running.
Corrieron = we see the empty corridors after the boys ran.
Antonio comía un bocadillo a mediodía.
Antonio had a sandwich at midday.
Antonio comió un bocadillo a mediodía.
Antonio had a sandwich at midday.
Comía = we can see Antonio eating his sandwich.
Comió = we can see Antonio throwing his sandwich wrapper away.
See also Using El Imperfecto vs El indefinido (time markers).
Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics
Examples and resources
La profesora abrió la puerta.
The teacher opened the door.
Susana trabajaba muy duro.
Susana worked very hard.
La profesora abría la puerta.
The teacher opened the door.
Antonio comió un bocadillo a mediodía.
Antonio had a sandwich at midday.
Los chicos corrieron por los pasillos haciendo ruido.
The boys ran along the corridors making noise.
Antonio comía un bocadillo a mediodía.
Antonio had a sandwich at midday.
Los chicos corrían por los pasillos haciendo ruido.
The boys ran along the corridors making noise.
Susana trabajó muy duro.
Susana worked very hard.
Q&A Forum 5 questions, 6 answers
WylieKwiziq community member
The past perfect in English in place of the Spanish Preterito Indefinito?
Asked 4 days ago
InmaKwiziq team member
Hola Wylie
Don't worry about the typos...
So, do you mean that the past perfect in English (e.g. had opened) could be the tense used in English as the equivalent of the Spanish preterite (Pretérito Indefinido, e.g. abrió)?
Well, it is not exactly the same, because we do have the equivalent of the English past perfect tense which is the Pluscuamperfecto (e.g. había abierto). With the sentence you gave us:
"I surveyed the room. The teacher had opened the door."
we can be literal on this in Spanish and say:
"Inspeccioné la habitación. El profesor había abierto la puerta."
here there is an action that happened after another. First, the teacher had opened the door, then I surveyed the room. This is a specific usage of the Pluperfect/Past perfect tense.
The usage that we explain in the lesson about the Pretérito Indefinido (the preterite) we see an action that "happened" and we see it as something that had a beginning and an end. The action is completed.
Fui al trabajo. = I went to work. ( I did that action, I am not walking to work anymore, because I finished the action of going to work, if this makes sense.)
Hice la cena. = I cooked dinner. (I did that action, I am not cooking it any more. That is a completed action.)
And we compare these sort of examples with the Imperfect (in the lesson) where, despite being also a past action, we see the actions as something "happening" in the past, without seeing them as completed: (Iba al trabajo / Hacía la cena)
Saludos
Inma
Wylie asked:View original
The past perfect in English in place of the Spanish Preterito Indefinito?
I made a couple of mistakes in my last communication. The title should have said, "the Spanish Preterito Indefinito" not "the Spanish Preterito Imperfecto. Second, the word "open" should be removed where it appears at the end of a sentence. Sorry everyone.
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WylieKwiziq community member
The past perfect in English in place of the Spanish Preterito Imperfecto?
I think perhaps the closest we get to this particular use of the Spanish Pretérito Indefinido in English is the Past Perfect. For example, "I surveyed the room. (I saw) The teacher had opened the door open." What do you think?
Wylie asked:View original
The past perfect in English in place of the Spanish Preterito Imperfecto?
I think perhaps the closest we get to this particular use of the Spanish Pretérito Indefinido in English is the Past Perfect. For example, "I surveyed the room. (I saw) The teacher had opened the door open." What do you think?
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LauraKwiziq community member
I'm sorry but I still don't get it. Are there longer examples in Spanish that could illustrate this? I feel like I still wouldn't know when to use
InmaKwiziq team member
Hola Laura,
I understand it is quite tricky because of the lack of Imperfect tense in English. We have two lessons about this difference, one, using time markers that trigger one or the other. In this lesson you will find more examples. Have a look here.
With the second lesson we did about this difference we wanted to show that even if there is no time phrase to trigger one tense or another, the speaker decides which tense to use depending on how he/she sees the action in his/her head: as a completed action with a beginning and an end, or as an action that simply happened but the "when" is not relevant.
I hope seeing those other examples in the lesson attached heps.
Saludos
Inma
Laura asked:View original
I'm sorry but I still don't get it. Are there longer examples in Spanish that could illustrate this? I feel like I still wouldn't know when to use
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NicoleKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Kudos
Inma, I just wanted to say that this lesson is the best on the subject. No other place have I heard/seen the reference of "seeing the .......". This really helped me a lot to "get" these very interesting tenses. Thank you for sharing your insight/knowledge with us and your patience!
Nicole asked:View original
Kudos
Inma, I just wanted to say that this lesson is the best on the subject. No other place have I heard/seen the reference of "seeing the .......". This really helped me a lot to "get" these very interesting tenses. Thank you for sharing your insight/knowledge with us and your patience!
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JonathanKwiziq community member
Difference between the tenses
Would another way of explaining the difference be to say that in English you could get the meaning of the imperfect by saying "The teacher [was] opened[ing] the door" and the indefinido as "The teacher [had] opened the door"
Asked 1 year ago
InmaKwiziq team member
Hola Johathan
That is a very good point. You could also use that theory to explain the difference but there are more tenses involved in that, for example, for the "was opening" sentence we'd probably use "estaba abriendo" as well as "abría", and "abrió"(opened) is not the same as "había abierto"(had opened). What we want to emphasise in this lesson is that in English the imperfect (abría) and the indefinido (abrió) are both translated as "opened", whereas in Spanish there is the nuance of an action with a beginning and an end or not.
Saludos, Inma
LynKwiziq community member
...this is an excellent example of what a native English speaker would have to say to convey the intention of the spanish imperfect.
Jonathan asked:View original
Difference between the tenses
Would another way of explaining the difference be to say that in English you could get the meaning of the imperfect by saying "The teacher [was] opened[ing] the door" and the indefinido as "The teacher [had] opened the door"
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