Advanced Intermediate 3 – Spanish Past Tense – Preterite and Imperfect

The Spanish Past Tense using the Preterite and Imperfect.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to a professional story teller you will perhaps have noticed that one of their skills is that of being able to weave the story together through the clever use of all the various past tenses.

To some extent we are all story tellers in our own right. Most days of our lives we tell our friends and family of things that have happened to us. Of course, there are those of us who can tell a great story, and there are others who struggle to keep their audience’s attention.

Why is that?

A lot of the problems can depend on their choice of past tense. Have you ever listened to someone who uses the Preterite tense too much? They list action after action, event after event, like as though it was a policeman’s report.

Then there are those who favour the Imperfect tense and fill their story with so much description that they leave you longing for some action so you end up saying to them: “Just get on with the story, will you?”

The Spanish past tense is no different

The same applies in Spanish, of course. To tell a great story you need to be able to command the Preterite and the Imperfect Spanish past tense and to be able to weave them together to create an interesting and gripping story.

In this free Spanish podcast we incorporate the Preterite and the Imperfect into stories of our recent holiday experiences. As you listen in, pay attention to the way the Imperfect is used to set the scene, and how the Preterite then brings in the action. ¡Dispara!

Remember that you already do this quite naturally in your own language and you can do it too in Spanish. All you need to do is ‘dominar’ the Spanish past tense in a confident way. This is the first in many podcasts that deal with the past. So, sit back and enjoy it!

For all the additional information and guidance on this free Spanish podcast, then why not try our comprehensive Spanish help-sheets? We have even provided you some free ones to give you an idea of the wealth of information and help they contain. Why not try them out?

Video for This Spanish Lesson

Audio for This Spanish Lesson