Spanish has two past tenses, the preterite and the imperfect. The guidelines in this lesson will help you select the appropriate tense.

The preterite is used to describe completed actions in the past.

Escribí una carta a mi abuela.
I wrote a letter to my grandmother.

Llegamos a casa muy tarde anoche.
We got home very late last night.

Mis niños jugaron en el parque todo el día.
My children played in the park all day.

The imperfect is used for ongoing past actions.

Mi carro no tenía radio.
My car didn't used to have a radio.

Hace años no existía la computadora.
Years ago the computer didn't used to exist.

Yo siempre andaba en bicicleta cuando era joven.
I always used to ride bike when I was young.

Pensaba pasar una temporada en Madrid.
I planned to spend a spell in Madrid.

Sometimes, these past actions were interrupted by another action:

Caminaban por la calle cuando empezó a llover.
They were walking down the street when it began to rain.

Juan se bañaba cuando llegaste.
Juan was taking a shower when you arrived.

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