Does it seem to you that there are so many Spanish tenses that you will never master them? Don’t worry. The secret of success is to create a clear matrix in our head where each tense has its special place. First, stop trying to remember all the tenses at once. Remember the situations and the time markers for each tense. You will see that at the end of the course all the tenses will take their place in a logical and beautiful system of verb forms.
Vocabulary
In lesson we will practice the following vocabulary. Read the words, listen to the audio and remember them:
tranquilidad
calm, calmness, peace
ventaja
advantage
preocupación
anxiety, concern, worry
amanecer
dawn, sunrise
aventura
adventure
gruñón
grumbler
hora extra
extra hour, overtime
permiso
permission
tontería
silly thing, foolishness
mercado laboral
labour market
cola
queue, line
puesto (de trabajo)
work place, post
esclavo
slave
empleado
worker, employee
subida de sueldo
salary increase, pay rise
con antelación
beforehand, in advance
divertido
funny, amusing, fun
Verbos:
Verbs:
compartir piso
to share an apartment, to live with somebody
quejarse
to complain
hacer ruido
to make noise
dejar en paz a algien
to leave someone alone
pelearse
to quarrel, to argue
refrescar la memoria
to refresh one’s memory
oler bien/mal
to smell good/bad
madurar
to mature, become adult
engordar
to put on weight
Dialogues
Listen carefully to the following Spanish dialogues. They will help you understand the grammar of this lesson:
Dialogue 1
¿Qué tal, María? ¿Te gusta vivir sola? Antes compartías piso con amigos y ahora por fin tienes la tranquilidad que tanto deseabas.
How are you, Maria? Do you like living on your own? Before, you shared a flat with your friends, and now, finally, you have the peace (calm) you were longing for.
Pues la verdad es que compartir piso tenía sus ventajas. Vivir con gente era divertido.
Well, the truth is that sharing a flat had its advantages. Living with other people was fun.
¡Qué dices! Pero si siempre te quejabas de tus compañeros de piso. Solías comentarme que hacían mucho ruido y que no te dejaban en paz. ¿Y ahora dices que los echas de menos?
What are you talking about! You always complained about your flatmates. You used to tell me that they made a lot of noise and would never leave you alone. And now you are saying you miss them?
Sí, bueno, hacían muchas tonterías. Pero cuando llegaba a casa siempre había alguien con quien hablar. Hacíamos planes juntos para el fin de semana y nos reíamos mucho.
Well yes, they did a lot of silly things. But when I came home, there was always someone to talk to. We made plans together for the weekend and laughed a lot.
Y os peleabais mucho también. Déjame refrescarte la memoria. El perro de Luis siempre te meaba los zapatos y Luis, encima, no se ofrecía a comprarte unos nuevos. ¿Y Laura? Esa chica estaba loca. Se despertaba por las noches y se ponía a tocar la guitarra.
And you quarreled a lot too. Let me refresh your memory. Luis’s dog always peed on your shoes, and, on top of this, Luis didn’t offer you to buy new ones. And Laura? That girl was crazy. She would wake up at night and start playing the guitar.
Jaja, es verdad. Ya no me acordaba de eso.
Haha, it’s true. I didn’t remember that.
Y no te digo nada de Miguel, que nunca limpiaba ni su propia habitación. ¿Te acuerdas de lo mal que olía?
And I’m not even mentioning Miguel, who didn’t even clean his own room. Do you remember how bad he smelled?
¡Anda, es verdad! Gracias por recordármelo. ¿Sabes? Vivir sola es una maravilla.
Yeah, it’s true! Thank you for reminding me. You know what? Living alone is wonderful.
Dialogue 2
¡Qué tiempos aquellos cuando éramos jóvenes! No teníamos preocupaciones. Íbamos al cine cada fin de semana. Bailábamos hasta el amanecer. Teníamos aventuras locas.
Oh those times when we were young! We had no worries. We used to go to the cinema every weekend. We danced until dawn. We had crazy adventures.
¿No decías que había que madurar y ser más serios?
Didn’t you say we had to grow up and be more serious?
Antes me besabas todo el rato y me decías cosas bonitas. Me regalabas flores y me escribías poemas.
You used to kiss me all the time and say nice words to me. You gave me flowers and wrote poems.
¡Pero si te aburrían mis poemas y las flores te daban alergia!
But you were bored by my poems and allergic to the flowers!
Antes me llevabas el desayuno a la cama y preparabas cenas románticas.
You used to serve me breakfast in bed and cook romantic dinners.
¿No decías que engordabas por culpa de mi comida?
Didn’t you say that you put on weight (got fat) because of my food?
Antes organizabas excursiones y viajes interesantes…
Before, you organized excursions and interesting trips…
¿No querías ahorrar para comprar la casa?
Didn’t you want to save money to buy a house?
Antes dormíamos hasta las 11 de la mañana y veíamos la tele todas las tardes.
We used to sleep until 11 a.m. and watch TV every evening.
Lo hacíamos porque no teníamos hijos y teníamos mucho tiempo libre. ¡Pensaba que estábamos felices juntos!
We did this because we didn’t have children and had a lot of free time. I thought we were happy together!
Ya sabía que ibas a empezar a quejarte. Tú nunca cambias. Eras gruñón antes y lo sigues siendo ahora.
I knew that you would start complaining. You never change. You are just the same (old) grumbler you used to be.
Dialogue 3
Don Luis, quería decir que me voy de la empresa.
Mr. Luis, I wanted to tell you that I am leaving the company.
¿Por qué? Me parecía que aquí tratábamos bien a nuestros trabajadores. ¿Hay algún problema?
Why? It seemed to me that we treated our workers well here. Is there any problem?
Antes no teníamos que trabajar los fines de semana y ahora sí. Antes las horas extra se pagaban y ahora no. Antes nos íbamos de vacaciones cuando queríamos y ahora tenemos que pedir permiso por escrito y con dos meses de antelación.
Before, we didn’t have to work on weekends, and now we do. Before, overtime was paid, and now it’s not. We used to go on vacation whenever we wanted to, and now we have to ask permission in writing and two months in advance.
Es cierto. Pero antes el mercado laboral era diferente. Antes perdías un trabajo y a la semana siguiente encontrabas otro. Antes los ingenieros terminaban la universidad y empezaban a trabajar. Ahora tenemos una cola de ingenieros que quieren ocupar su puesto, señora Martínez.
It’s true. But the labour market used to be different. Before, you would lose your job and the following week you would find another one. Before, engineers graduated from universities and started working (right away). Now we have a queue of engineers wanting to take your post, Mrs. Martinez.
Es justo de lo que le estoy hablando. Antes se valoraba a un buen especialista y ahora parecemos esclavos. Antes un jefe ofrecía una subida de sueldo cuando un empleado decía que quería irse.
That’s exactly what I am talking about. Before, a good specialist was valued, but now we are like slaves. Previously, a boss would offer a pay rise when an employee said they wanted to quit.
¿Una subida de sueldo? ¿Es eso lo que quiere?
A pay rise? Is that what you want?
Bueno,… No pensaba en decírselo, pero sí, así es.
Well… I wasn’t going to say this, but yes, it is true.
¡Ya sabía yo que esta conversación iba en esa dirección! De acuerdo, vamos a ver qué podemos hacer por usted.
I knew this conversation would go in this direction! Well, let’s see what we can do for you.
Spanish grammar
Read carefully the explanation of the grammar of this lesson:
How the imperfect past tense is formed (Pretérito imperfecto)
Pretérito imperfecto is used to describe processes and states. That’s exactly why it is called “imperfecto”, which means “incomplete” or “unfinished” tense. This tense is easy to use as it has few exceptions. Let’s see its forms:
| person | -ar: hablar (to speak) | -er: aprender (to learn) | -ir: vivir (to live) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablaba | aprendía | vivía |
| tú | hablabas | aprendías | vivías |
| él, ella, usted | hablaba | aprendía | vivía |
| nosotros | hablábamos | aprendíamos | vivíamos |
| vosotros | hablabais | aprendíais | vivíais |
| ellos, ustedes | hablaban | aprendían | vivían |
Only three verbs form an irregular Pretérito imperfecto. Let’s memorize them:
| person | ser (be) | ir (go) | ver (see) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | era | iba | veía |
| tú | eras | ibas | veías |
| él, ella, usted | era | iba | veía |
| nosotros | éramos | íbamos | veíamos |
| vosotros | erais | ibais | veíais |
| ellos, ustedes | eran | iban | veían |
When should we use Pretérito imperfecto?
Try to memorize the situations in which the imperfect past tense is used:
- Repeated or regular actions in the past. In English “used to” or “would” are used quite often in these situations. Look at these examples:
- The description of a state in the past (the state of people and things):
- In introductory phrases, referring to the past in general:
- Simultaneous actions in the past. In English, continuous verb forms are used in these situations quite often. Look at these examples:
- An ongoing action in the past that served as background for another completed action:
Antes me regalabas flores muy a menudo. – Before you used to give me flowers very often.
Cuando vivía en Madrid iba a trabajar en metro. – When I lived in Madrid, I used to take the underground to get to work.
Pedro estaba muy triste y no quería hablar con nadie. – Pedro was very sad and didn’t want to talk to anyone.
Me parecía que aquí tratabamos bien a nuestros trabajadores. It seemed to me that here we treated our employees well.
Sabía que Marta estaba embarazada. I knew that Marta was pregnant.
Mientras Laura tocaba la guitarra Luis hablaba por teléfono. While Laura was playing the guitar, Luis was speaking on the phone.
Mi madre cocinaba y escuchaba música. My mother was cooking and listening to music.
Miguel hablaba por teléfono cuando viniste. Miguel was speaking on the phone when you came.
Cuando salí a la calle llovía mucho. When I went out it was raining heavily.
Attention!
Your choice of tense may completely alter the meaning of a phrase.
Let’s look at some examples where the tense changes the meaning drastically:
- Laura tenía una hija. – Laura had a daughter.
- Laura tuvo una hija. – Laura gave a birth to a daughter.
- Conocía a este hombre. – I knew this man.
- Conocí a este hombre ayer. – I met (I got to know) this man yesterday.
The following are indicator words for this tense:
- siempre, todos los días, tres veces a la semana (and other words denoting frequency)
- mientras, cuando (links denoting simultaneous actions)
Todos los sábados comíamos juntos. Every Saturday we had lunch together.
Siempre me regalabas flores. You always gave me flowers.
Mientras veíamos la tele comíamos pizza. – While we were watching TV, we were eating pizza.
Cuando llovía nos quedabamos en casa. – When it rained, we stayed at home.
Attention!
What is the difference between“hacía” and “estaba haciendo”?
As you know, the construction “estar + gerundio” is used to express actions that are happening at the moment, that is to say, which are in progress. We can use the same construction in the Pretérito imperfecto, talking about a process in the past. In English this usually corresponds to the continuous verb form. Look at these examples:
- Estaba comiendo cuando me llamaste. – I was eating lunch, when you called me.
- Cuando salimos de casa estaba lloviendo. – When we left the house, it was raining.
In many situations hacía and estaba haciendo mean the same thing and are interchangeable. However, the construction “estar + gerundio” meaning “an interrupted action” or “an action in the background” is used more often:
- Estaba trabajando cuando vino Pablo. – I was working, when Pablo came.
- Los niños estaban viendo la tele cuando escucharon un sonido raro. – The children were watching TV, when they suddenly heard a strange sound.
Sequence of tenses in Spanish
There is a special phenomenon in Spanish which is called the sequence of tenses. It’s very similar to the mechanisms in English: If the verb in the main clause is in the past tense, the subordinate clause should also be in the past tense. Examples:
- Sé que hablas inglés. – I know that you speak English.
- Sabía que hablabas inglés. – I knew that you spoke English.
In this sentence we use the present tense in both parts of the sentence, because the main clause (Sé) is in the present tense.
Here we have the same phenomenom.
Let’s try to visualize this process. Every time you use the past tense, in your imagination you should see a stone falling on the main clause, rolling downhill and crushing all other tenses. Have you imagined this? Let’s look at more examples:
- ¿No decías que engordabas por culpa de mi comida? – Didn’t you say, you put on weight because of my food?
- Ya sabía que ibas a empezar a quejarte. – I knew you would start complaining.
We say “No decías” and Boom! The past tense stone rolled all over the sentence and turned the verb “engordas” into “engordabas“.
In this sentence the fallen stone crushed even the future tense under itself and turned it into the past (“ibas a empezar”).
So far, the sequence of tenses doesn’t seem so difficult, does it? However, be prepared. Once you get to know all the tenses, you’ll see that choosing the correct tense will be more difficult. Then you’ll see that our imaginary stone will be even more useful.
Test
Check what you remember from this lesson:
