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Preterite or imperfect?

English makes you choose once; Spanish makes you choose every sentence. These eight cover the ordinary cases and the handful of verbs that change meaning depending on which you pick.

Eight questions, an explanation for every one, no signup.

  1. Question 1 of 8
    Ayer ___ paella en casa de mi tía.
  2. Question 2 of 8
    Cuando era niño, ___ en el parque todos los días.
  3. Question 3 of 8
    Mientras ___, sonó el teléfono.
  4. Question 4 of 8
    ___ las ocho cuando por fin llegó.
  5. Question 5 of 8
    De repente, alguien ___ la puerta.
  6. Question 6 of 8
    Anoche ___ a tu hermana en la fiesta.
  7. Question 7 of 8
    Antes ___ en Sevilla, pero ahora vivimos en Lima.
  8. Question 8 of 8
    El año pasado ___ a Perú por primera vez.

0 of 8 answered.

The answers, and why

No scrolling past a paywall and no email: here is every question with its answer and the reason behind it.

  1. Ayer ___ paella en casa de mi tía.

    Answer: comí (of comí / comía)

    A single finished event on a specific day: preterite.

  2. Cuando era niño, ___ en el parque todos los días.

    Answer: jugaba (of jugué / jugaba)

    "Todos los días" marks a habit, and habits in the past take the imperfect.

  3. Mientras ___, sonó el teléfono.

    Answer: leía (of leí / leía)

    The classic pairing: the imperfect is the scene in progress, the preterite ("sonó") is what interrupted it.

  4. ___ las ocho cuando por fin llegó.

    Answer: Eran (of Fueron / Eran)

    Telling the time in the past is background description, so the imperfect.

  5. De repente, alguien ___ la puerta.

    Answer: abrió (of abrió / abría)

    "De repente" announces a sharp, bounded event: preterite.

  6. Anoche ___ a tu hermana en la fiesta.

    Answer: conocí (of conocí / conocía)

    The trap. In the preterite, conocer means the moment of meeting someone. "Conocía a tu hermana" would mean you already knew her.

  7. Antes ___ en Sevilla, pero ahora vivimos en Lima.

    Answer: vivíamos (of vivimos / vivíamos)

    "Antes" sets up how things used to be — an open-ended past state, so the imperfect.

  8. El año pasado ___ a Perú por primera vez.

    Answer: viajamos (of viajamos / viajábamos)

    A completed trip inside a closed time frame: preterite.

Preterite vs imperfect: the rule that actually holds

The useful question is not "how long did it last" but "am I telling you what happened, or what things were like". The preterite moves the story forward: events with edges, things that happened and finished. The imperfect paints the scene the events happen in: what used to happen, what was going on, the weather, the time, how old someone was. This is why a few verbs change meaning between the two. "Conocí a tu hermana" is the moment of meeting; "conocía a tu hermana" is the ongoing state of already knowing her. Same verb, different job.

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