Using El Imperfecto vs El indefinido (general use)

Posted by Inma Sánchez

In: Level B2, Idioms, Idiomatic Usage, and Structures, El Pretérito Imperfecto, El Pretérito Indefinido

Questions: 3

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:

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.

Corrían = we can see the boys running.

Corrieron = we see the empty corridors after the boys ran.

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).

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Jonathan

Kwiziq community member

29 May 2018

2 replies

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"

Inma

Kwiziq language super star

29 May 2018

29/05/18

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

Margaret

Kwiziq community member

10 September 2018

10/09/18

Thank you Inma..I think I'm starting to get it! 

Saludos, Margaret

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