Imperfect

Spanish imperfectThey say practice makes perfect, so how can one of the most common Spanish  past tenses be imperfect? In grammatical terms, "perfect" means "complete," so the Spanish imperfect tense is used to describe an incomplete or ongoing action or state of being, especially when it lasted for a long time.

   

   

   

Imperfecto vs Pretérito

Imperfecto vs pretéritoKnowing whether to use the pretérito or imperfecto is particularly difficult when translating certain verbs into Spanish. Very broadly speaking, the imperfect is equivalent to was/were + ___ing, but some English verbs are not often used in this form. So when translating was, had, and liked into Spanish, you have to think about the meaning in order to decide which tense to use.