Meaning & usagedifficulty 4
preterite vs imperfect
SentencePast tenses with different aspect. Preterite marks completed events with clear boundaries. Imperfect marks habitual, ongoing, or background past actions.
Examples
Ayer ___ una carta.
→ escribí
Single completed event → preterite
De niño ___ todos los días.
→ escribía
Habitual past → imperfect
Mientras ___, sonó el teléfono.
→ escribía
Background interrupted → imperfect
Words in this rule
| Word | English |
|---|---|
| escribir | write |
Practice Spanish in context
Write AI sentences that force each case of preterite vs imperfect using your Easy vocab — or read articles where we underline the words that trigger each rule.