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 habitual actions or ongoing past actions with no reference to beginning or ending.

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

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

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

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

Sometimes, these past actions were interrupted by another action:

Tú estabas en el área cuando la alarma fue activada.
You were in the area when the alarm went off.

¿Estaba alguien fumando cuando empezó el ataque de asma?
Was somebody smoking when the asthma attack started?

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