In this most-recent podcast, we look at using the preterite vs imperfect in Spanish. 

We use anecdotes to assist you in understanding how these two past tenses can be used to weave together a great story.

As we’ve mentioned before, to really tell an interesting tale in Spanish you need to be able to “dominar” these two tenses. Unless, of course, you don’t mind your audience falling asleep! jeje

Perhaps you can imagine the imperfect tense as the scenery, music and lighting in a theatre show. It’s the background tense that sets the scene and the tone of the story.

The preterite are the actors and the action. So, you use the imperfect to set the scene of you tale and then you fire in the preterite to produce the action of the story.

Overuse either and it can make for a very boring tale.

However, once you have control of these conversational tenses your Spanish will move from great…to eloquent! Another added benefit will be that people will stay with you for longer at parties and social gatherings. Entonces, ¡buena suerte!

Remember that the translation and transcription of all of these podcasts are available in the helpsheets. You can download a free sample as a try before you buy. Esperamos que te gusten.

Audio for This Spanish Lesson

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