Part IV: Writing in the Past and in the Future in VS .NET

Generator QR in VS .NET Part IV: Writing in the Past and in the Future

over a period of time in the past: it was happening, used to happen, or would (meaning used to) happen In some instances, either the preterit or the imperfect is acceptable as a past tense The tense you use may depend on the meaning you want to convey For instance, if you want to convey that the action was completed, you can say Ella estudi (She studied) If you want to convey that the action was ongoing or continuous, you can say Ella estudiaba (She was studying) In the following list, I compare some examples of the preterit and the imperfect: Preterit: Ellos bailaron (They danced) Imperfect: Ellos bailaban (They were dancing) Preterit: Yo sal anoche (I went out last night) Yo sal dos veces (I went out two times) Imperfect: Yo sal a cada noche (I went out each night) One big difference is that you use the imperfect to describe a person, place, thing, state of mind, time, day, or weather condition in the past: Ella era optimista (She was optimistic) El viaje era agradable (The trip was nice) Esperaba ganar (He was hoping to win) Era la una (It was one o clock) Era martes (It was Tuesday) Llov a (It was raining) You recently wrote a composition for Spanish class in the present tense, but your teacher wanted it written in the past tense Oops! Rewrite the composition, changing all the verbs in the present tense to the preterit or imperfect tense Es _________________ (28) s bado Hace _________________ (29) fr o Est _________________ (30) nevando El sol no brilla _________________ (31) y hay _________________ (32) muchos nubes en el cielo Los p jaros no cantan _________________ (33) No tengo _________________ (34) nada de particular a hacer De repente el tel fono suena _________________ (35) y yo contesto _________________ (36) Es _________________ (37) mi amigo, Manuel Me dice _________________ (38) que se aburre _________________ (39) mirando la televisi n Me pregunta _________________ (40) si quiero _________________ (41) salir Yo creo _________________ (42) que es _________________ (43) una buena idea Yo sugiero _________________ (44): Nosotros podemos _________________ (45) construir un mu eco de nieve A Manuel no le gusta _________________ (46) esa idea l prefiere _________________ (47) construir una fortaleza de nieve Yo acepto _________________ (48) esa idea Yo le pido _________________ (49) permiso a mi madre para salir Naturalmente, ella dice _________________ (50) S inmediatamente Nosotros nos decidimos _________________ (51) a reunirnos a la una y nosotros colgamos _________________ (52) el tel fono El d a es _________________ (53) maravilloso

Certain words in Spanish act as clues that you should use the preterit or the imperfect tense, because they show that an action occurred at a specific time or imply that an action was ongoing over a period of time The sections that follow will help you determine which past tense you should use in a given situation

You often use the preterit tense along with words and expressions that specify a time period Table 14-1 presents many of these common words and expressions

Table 14-1

anoche anteayer ayer ayer por la noche de repente el a o pasado el otro d a el verano pasado finalmente la semana pasada por fin primero un d a una vez

Meaning last night day before yesterday yesterday last night suddenly last year the other day last summer finally last week finally first one day one time

Here are some example sentences that show how you use these words with the preterit: Anoche me qued en casa (Last night I stayed home) De repente, o mos un ruido fuerte (Suddenly we heard a loud noise) Finalmente, lo termin (Finally, I finished it)