El pretérito Actions that occurred at a specific point in time in the past (Ayer, anteayer, el otro día, el mes pasado, la semana pasada)
El imperfecto Ongoing past actions. Use when in English one would say used to. De niño él siempre comía los macaronis con queso. As a child he used to always eat macaroni and cheese.
El imperfecto The imperfect is used for repeated past actions or when one uses phrases such as generalmente Siempre todos los días a veces cada día, semana, etc. por lo general
El imperfecto The imperfect is used for repeated past actions or when one uses phrases such as regularmente de costumbre constantemente Yo jugaba al nintendo constantemente. I used to play nintendo constantly.
El imperfecto Description in the past. La casa embrujada era vieja y descuidada. The haunted house was old and unkept.
El imperfecto Background past actions. Yo estudiaba cuando sonó el teléfono. I was studying when the phone rang.
El pretérito Main action of a sentence. Yo caminaba por la acera cuando vi el accidente. (I was walking down the sidewalk when I saw the accident.
El imperfecto Age in the past. Él tenía tres años cuando empezó a jugar al fútbol. He was three years old when he started to play soccer.
El imperfecto The imperfect is also used to describe weather in the past. Hacía sol.It was sunny. Estaba nublado. It was cloudy. Hacía viento.It was windy.
Pretérito/Imperfecto 1.I was studying when my friend arrived. 2.She was driving when she saw the accident. 3.The school was new and it had a lot of technology. 4.Yesterday we went to the mall. 5.The day before yesterday we ate at the restaurant.
Pretérito/Imperfecto 6.Last summer I traveled to Europe. 7.I used to travel every summer. 8.When he was a teenager he used to play the trumpet. 9.Manolito started using glasses when he was five years old. 10. He constantly drank milk.
Pretérito/Imperfecto 11. We were writing the sentences when the bell rang. 12. My grandparents in the 1930s were young and good looking. 13. It was raining. 14. We picked up seashells yesterday. 15. The children used to play in the sand.