Learn SPANISH intermediate - difference between IMPERFECTO (imperfect) and INDEFINIDO (simple past)

In this Spanish video lesson you will learn about the difference between two past tenses in Spanish: PRETÉRITO IMPERFECTO (imperfect) and PRETÉRITO INDEFINIDO SIMPLE (simple past). These two Spanish tenses can sometimes be a bit confusing for
english speakers since the “imperfect” in Spanish is expressed with its own verb conjugation, while in English it can be expressed in different ways. Here I explain how you can properly and easily conjugate spanish verbs in this tenses and in what situations you need to use each one. I explain the rules as simple as possible so you can quickly apply this information to better understand and communicate yourself in Spanish. It’s a Spanish class for intermediate students with many different sentences as
examples so you can start and/or improve on your learning experience of this beautiful language.

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Signal words for IMPERFECTO in Spanish:
-Antes / (before)
-Cuando era joven / (When I was young...)
-Siempre / (always)
-Mientras / (while, meanwhile...)
-cada… (día, lunes, martes, semana, mes, año…) / each or every day, Monday,
Tuesday... week, month, year...
-Todos los…(días, las semanas, meses…) / every day, week, month…

Uses of PRETÉRITO IMPERFECTO in Spanish:
*A repeated action in the past. An action that happened regularly or often but not anymore.
*A continuous action from the past. The action happened for a while, for a period of time but not
anymore.
*To describe people, things or situations from the past.

Uses of PRETÉRITO INDEFINIDO (combined with IMPERFECTO) in Spanish:
*A new action in the past (INDEFINIDO) interrupts an action in progress (imperfecto) also in the
past.
A few sentences as examples:
Antes yo estaba cada sábado en el gimnasio.
(Before, I used to be every Saturday at the Gym.)
Antes Santo Domingo era una ciudad más pequeña.
(In the past, Santo Domingo was a smaller city.)
Yo cocinaba en casa cuando tú llamaste por teléfono.
(I was cooking at home when you called on the phone.)
Comprábamos leche cuando vimos a mi mamá.
(We were buying milk when we saw my mom.)
Ellos hablaban sobre el clima cuando yo los interrumpí.
(They were talking about the weather when I interrupted them.)
Él hablaba sobre el Imperfecto y el Indefinido cuando el video se terminó.
(He was talking about the Imperfecto and the Indefinido when the video ended.)
Here I conjugate the verb ESTAR in IMPERFECTO. In this case is the verb ESTAR regular, so any verb that ends with -AR you can conjugated the same way as ESTAR in IMPERFECTO.
Yo estaba
Tú estabas
Él / ella usted estaba
nosotros / -as estábamos
vosotros / -as estabais
ellos / ellas ustedes estaban
The Spanish verb SER conjugated in IMPERFECTO.It’s irregular and this is how you conjugated:
Yo era
Tú eras
Él, ella, usted era
Nosotros, nosotras éramos
Vosotros erais
Ellos, ellas, ustedes eran

Muchas gracias!
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