Kilo Lingo
Spanish grammar Part of Chapter 9

CEFR A2-B1

5 min read

Test yourself (29 questions)

Preterite vs Imperfect: Spanish Past Tenses Chart and Quiz

By Michael McGettrick and Sergio Linares-HernandesUpdated 12 October 2026

The preterite reports events: what happened, start to finish. The imperfect describes everything around them: the scene, habits, what was going on. Ask one question: is this verb an event, or the scenery it happened in?

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Pick the right one

0/3

Preterite (an event) or imperfect (the scene, a habit, an action in progress)?

  1. Ayer paella. (comer, one occasion)

  2. Todas las noches paella en casa. (comer, every night)

  3. Mientras yo hablaba con mi madre, el teléfono. (sonar, once)

preterite, an eventimperfect, the sceneWhat do the colours mean?
  • . - It was raining when I went out.

The forms are on the preterite and the imperfect.

The preterite vs imperfect chart

Read each row across: the same kind of situation, two different jobs.

UsePreteriteImperfect
once or a habit . I went once. . I used to go.
length . Five years, over. . I lived there then.
one after another . Arrived, then ate. . Both at once.
interruption . The phone rang. . I was reading.
start or end . It started to rain.. It was raining.
description . A verdict. . The setting.
time and age . When it was. . It was three o'clock.
English telldid, went, ate (once)was -ing, used to, would

Event or scene: the one question

The preterite reports:

JobExampleEnglish
one event .Yesterday I ate .
a closed span .I worked for two hours.
a chain .I got up and went out.
a start, an end .The film ended at ten.

The imperfect describes:

JobExampleEnglish
a habit .We always ate at home.
in progress .You were asleep when I called.
the scene .It was sunny and there were lots of people.
time and age .I was ten.
state of mind .I didn't know what to do.

On a time line, the imperfect is a stretch with no edges in view, and the preterite is a point that lands on it:

  • Leía: I was reading (the scene, no start or end in view)

  • Sonó el teléfono: the phone rang (one event)

Timeline from past to now, with now marked.

The interrupted action

The commonest past-tense pattern in Spanish: the imperfect for the action under way, the preterite for the event that cuts across it.

  • . - I was reading when the phone rang.
  • , María . - When I arrived, María was asleep.
  • , . - While I was talking to my mother, the phone rang.
Four panels, each person in the middle of an action: a woman with long hair and a bow reads an open book; a man with a moustache stirs a steaming pot on the stove; a boy runs, arms swinging; a girl with pigtails talks on the phone, with sound waves and a speech bubble.
  1. .
  2. .
  3. .
  4. .

What each of them was doing when the lights went out (cuando se fue la luz): she was reading, he was cooking, he was running, she was on the phone. An action in progress, so the imperfect.

Two imperfects side by side are two things going on at once. Two preterites are one thing after another. One change of tense gives a different evening:

  • , . - When my father arrived, we had dinner. (he came, then we ate)
  • , . - When my father arrived, we were having dinner. (the meal was under way)

Trigger words: hints, not laws

preterite, an eventimperfect, the sceneWhat do the colours mean?

Some time words lean hard towards one tense:

PreteriteEnglishImperfectEnglish
yesterdayalways
last night every day
last week often
two years ago sometimes
suddenlywhile
once as a child
three timesnormally

The tense still follows the meaning, and a closed view of the action overrules any marker:

WhySpanishEnglish
a whole life, over .My grandfather was always generous.
the stay as a block Madrid, Prado.While I was in Madrid, I visited the Prado.
counted, in one day .On Monday I went to the doctor three times.
the rain is scene .It was raining yesterday when I went out.

Was: fue, era, estuvo or estaba

English "was" is four Spanish words. Choose or first (ser vs estar), then the tense:

FormExampleEnglish
.The party was great. (a verdict)
.The house was big. (description)
.He was ill for three days.
.He was ill when you called.

Ser and estar beyond the basics has both verbs in every past form.

A story, verb by verb

Every verb here is the same choice, made sixteen times in eleven lines:

JobSpanishEnglish
the scene .It was a Saturday in July and it was hot.
in progress .My sister was reading and I was asleep.
the event , .Suddenly, a dog ran towards us.
an event .It ran off with my towel.
a chain .I got up and ran after it.
description .The dog was very fast.
an event .In the end it stopped outside a bar.
the scene , .Its owner was there, eating an ice cream.
an event .He gave me my towel back.
event, time , .When we got home, it was already eight.
a verdict , .It was a strange day, but great fun.

The imperfects set the scene and come back wherever the story stops to look around. The preterites are the plot. Delete every imperfect and you still have a story; delete every preterite and you have a lovely description in which nothing happens.

Flip one verb and the story changes:

  • . - My sister was reading. (the scene)
  • . - My sister read a book, start to finish. (an event in the plot)

Verbs that change meaning

A few verbs change their English verb with the tense, because the preterite turns a state into an event, often the moment it began:

  • María. - I knew María.
  • María 2010. - I met María in 2010.

, , , and do the same: see verbs that change meaning in the preterite.

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
. .clock time is imperfect
. .an age is a state
. .description is imperfect
. .a closed, counted span
. .one finished event
. .a sudden event

is right only as a frame for another event: . - Yesterday I was on my way to the cinema when I saw you.

Where the other past tenses fit

TenseExampleEnglish
pluperfect , .When I arrived, they had already gone.
Spain .I had a late breakfast this morning.
Latin America .I had a late breakfast this morning.

The pluperfect is a past before another past. For earlier today, most of Spain uses the present perfect and most of Latin America the preterite; the regional grammar page maps the split.

What to do next

  1. Before every past verb, ask: event or scene?
  2. Tell last weekend aloud: scene in the imperfect, events in the preterite.
  3. Do the story and sort drills below.

Practise: test yourself

Complete the story

0/6

Choose the preterite or the imperfect for each gap.

A noise in the night

las dos de la mañana. Yo quince años y en la cama cuando, de repente, un ruido en la cocina. Me y fui a la cocina. Allí mi gato, con cara de culpable.

Gap 1 of 6

Sort into groups

0/6

Is the verb reporting an event or describing the scene?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Pick the right one

0/8

Preterite (an event) or imperfect (the scene, a habit, an action in progress)?

  1. Ayer paella. (comer, one occasion)

  2. Todas las noches paella en casa. (comer, every night)

  3. Mientras yo hablaba con mi madre, el teléfono. (sonar, once)

  4. Cuando llegué a casa, María por teléfono. (hablar, already under way)

  5. las tres de la tarde cuando llegó el tren. (ser, the time)

  6. Cuando diez años, fuimos a vivir a Madrid. (tener, an age)

  7. en Madrid cinco años y luego volví a Londres. (vivir, a closed span)

  8. De niño a la ciudad cada año. (ir, a habit)

Spot the mistake

0/4

Each sentence has one wrong verb. Tap it.

Fill in the blank

0/5

Write the verb in the tense given in brackets. Mind the accents: comí and comía are different words.

  1. Ayer paella. (comer, preterite) (comer, preterite, yo)

  2. De niño paella los domingos. (comer, imperfect) (comer, imperfect, yo)

  3. Ana por teléfono cuando yo llegué. (hablar, imperfect) (hablar, imperfect, ella)

  4. Anoche a la ciudad con mis amigos. (ir, preterite) (ir, preterite, yo)

  5. Cada tarde a la ciudad. (ir, imperfect) (ir, imperfect, yo)

Chapters 1 and 2 free

This article is one lesson in a whole course

Every grammar point has its own article and drill, and the course wraps them in graded stories, games and printable worksheets, in the order you need them.

Chapters 1 and 2 free, forever. Plus: 7 days free, then $5 a month for all eleven languages.

Start learning free

Spanish · Free printables

Practice worksheets and infographics

Practice worksheets with answer keys built in, plus infographic and listicle formats. Open any one to view, print or save.

Infographics

  1. Key points infographic
  2. The preterite vs imperfect chart
  3. Event or scene: the one question
  4. Event or scene: the one question
  5. Trigger words: hints, not laws
  6. Trigger words: hints, not laws
  7. Was: fue, era, estuvo or estaba
  8. A story, verb by verb
  9. Mistakes English speakers make
  10. Where the other past tenses fit

Other formats

  1. Listicle

More grammar on this course

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest way to choose between preterite and imperfect?
Ask whether the verb is an event or the scenery. An event that happened and finished takes the preterite: (I yesterday). A habit, an action in progress or a description takes the imperfect: (I used to eat every Sunday). The same English 'ate' can be either.
Is 'was' preterite or imperfect in Spanish?
Either. Description, the time and ages take the imperfect: , , . A verdict on a finished event or a closed period takes the preterite: , . Ask whether you are describing the scene or summing up something that is over.
What are the trigger words for the preterite?
, , , , , 1990, , and : anything that pins an action to one moment or a counted span. Treat them as strong hints, not laws: uses the preterite with , because it sums up a whole life that is over.
Is 'used to' always imperfect?
Yes. 'Used to' and 'would' describe a past habit, which is the imperfect's job: (as a child I used to play football), a (every summer we would go to the beach). Conditional 'would', as in 'I would go if I could', is a different tense: .
Why does Spain use the present perfect where Mexico uses the preterite?
For something earlier today, most of Spain uses the present perfect: he . Most of Latin America, and the Canary Islands, use the preterite: . Both are correct in their region. The imperfect works the same way everywhere.