Preterite vs Imperfect Practice

Q: What's the difference between preterite and imperfect?

Preterite tells what happened — completed events with clear endings. Imperfect tells what was happening, what used to happen, or what the scene looked like. The preterite drives the story forward; the imperfect describes the background it sits in.

Q: When do you use the preterite in Spanish?

Use the preterite for completed past actions — single events, sequences of finished actions, and anything with a defined endpoint. Trigger words include ayer, anoche, una vez, de repente, and any specific date or duration.

Q: When do you use the imperfect in Spanish?

Use the imperfect for past habits, descriptions of people or places, ongoing background actions, age, time of day, weather, and mental or emotional states. Trigger words include siempre, todos los días, mientras, de niño, and antes.

Q: Why does saber change meaning in the preterite?

Saber in the imperfect means knew. In the preterite, supe means found out — the specific moment you learned something. The same shift happens with conocer (knew → met for the first time), querer (wanted → tried to / refused in negative), and poder (was able to → managed to / failed to in negative).

Q: Can preterite and imperfect appear in the same sentence?

Yes — that's actually one of the most common patterns. The imperfect sets the background scene, and the preterite drops a specific event into it: yo leía cuando llegó. The imperfect describes the ongoing reading; the preterite reports the arrival.

Q: Are these preterite vs imperfect exercises free?

Yes. All 30 exercises on this page run in your browser, work without any signup, and include a clear explanation after every answer.

Question 1

Ayer ___ a la playa con mis amigos.

Accepted Answer

fui. Ayer signals a completed action at a specific past moment — preterite. Iba would describe a habit or background.

Question 2

De niña, ___ al parque todos los sábados.

Accepted Answer

iba. Todos los sábados signals a repeated past habit — imperfect. The single trip would be fui.

Question 3

Yo ___ la cena cuando sonó el teléfono.

Accepted Answer

preparaba. An ongoing background action interrupted by a sudden event — the background is imperfect (preparaba), the interruption is preterite (sonó).

Question 4

El parque ___ enorme y ___ muchas flores.

Accepted Answer

era / había. Both verbs describe the scene (background, no clear endpoint) — both imperfect. Era for the description, había (hay in imperfect) for existence.

Question 5

___ las ocho de la noche y ___ frío.

Accepted Answer

Eran / hacía. Time and weather as background description — both imperfect. Telling time uses eran for plural hours.

Question 6

Esta mañana me ___, ___ un café y ___ a trabajar.

Accepted Answer

levanté / tomé / fui. A sequence of completed actions — all preterite. Esta mañana frames it as a finished sequence.

Question 7

Cuando ___ ocho años, vivía en Sevilla.

Accepted Answer

tenía. Age in the past is always imperfect — it's an ongoing state, not a single event. Tuve ocho años would only fit very specific contexts (and rarely).

Question 8

El verano pasado ___ a Italia por dos semanas.

Accepted Answer

viajé. El verano pasado pinpoints a finished trip — preterite. Imperfect would suggest you used to travel there every summer.

Question 9

Cuando ___ joven, mi padre ___ al cine cada domingo.

Accepted Answer

era / iba. Both pieces describe the past background — being young (state) and going every Sunday (habit). Both imperfect.

Question 10

De repente, alguien ___ a la puerta.

Accepted Answer

llamó. De repente (suddenly) is a classic preterite trigger — an unexpected, completed action that drops into a scene.

Question 11

Mientras yo ___ , mi hermano ___ la televisión.

Accepted Answer

estudiaba / veía. Mientras (while) signals two simultaneous ongoing background actions — both imperfect.

Question 12

Anoche ___ una película muy interesante.

Accepted Answer

vi. Anoche (last night) — finished, specific time — preterite.

Question 13

No ___ ir al concierto porque ___ cansado.

Accepted Answer

quería / estaba. Mental and physical states in the background use imperfect. Quería = I didn't want, estaba = I was tired — both ongoing internal states.

Question 14

Which sentence has the wrong tense?

Accepted Answer

De niño, jugué al fútbol todos los días.. Todos los días signals habit — imperfect (jugaba), not preterite (jugué). The trigger words tell you which tense.

Question 15

El año pasado ___ con mi mejor amiga después de quince años.

Accepted Answer

me reencontré. El año pasado pinpoints a single completed event — preterite. Imperfect would describe a habit of meeting up, which doesn't fit reencontrarse after fifteen years.

Question 16

Antes ___ café todas las mañanas, pero ahora bebo té.

Accepted Answer

bebía. Antes + todas las mañanas signals a past habit that has changed — imperfect. The contrast with ahora makes it clear.

Question 17

La casa ___ vieja pero ___ muy acogedora.

Accepted Answer

era / era. Two descriptive states with no clear endpoint — both imperfect. Description of how something was uses imperfect.

Question 18

El ladrón ___ por la ventana, ___ el dinero y ___ rápidamente.

Accepted Answer

entró / tomó / salió. A sequence of completed past actions — all preterite. Each one finished before the next began.

Question 19

Cuando llegaste, yo ___ leyendo un libro.

Accepted Answer

estaba. Past progressive uses imperfect of estar + gerund — describes an action in progress when something else happened.

Question 20

En 2019, ___ a vivir a Barcelona.

Accepted Answer

me mudé. A specific past year (en 2019) marks a single finished event — preterite. Imperfect would suggest moving was a habit, which doesn't make sense.

Question 21

Aquel día ___ y ___ mucho viento.

Accepted Answer

llovía / hacía. Weather as background description uses imperfect. Llovió or hizo viento would be a specific finished weather event (it rained — once, briefly).

Question 22

Esa mañana ___ que mi tío había muerto.

Accepted Answer

supe. Saber in the preterite means found out (the moment of learning), not knew. The news arriving is a single completed event.

Question 23

___ a mi marido en una fiesta hace diez años.

Accepted Answer

Conocí. Conocer in the preterite means met (for the first time), not knew. The first encounter is a single completed event.

Question 24

Which sentence is grammatically off?

Accepted Answer

Tuve cinco años cuando empecé el colegio.. Age in the past is always imperfect: tenía cinco años. Tuve cinco años is ungrammatical for stating someone's age.

Question 25

Siempre ___ al gimnasio por la mañana, hasta que ___ la rodilla.

Accepted Answer

iba / me lesioné. Siempre signals habit — imperfect (iba). The injury that ended the habit is a specific completed event — preterite (me lesioné).

Question 26

Mi abuelo ___ alto, ___ los ojos azules y ___ con voz suave.

Accepted Answer

era / tenía / hablaba. Three descriptive past states — physical traits and habitual manner. All imperfect.

Question 27

Ayer mi jefe me ___ una reunión importante.

Accepted Answer

dio. Ayer + a single act of giving = preterite. Daba would suggest it was something he did regularly.

Question 28

Yo ___ tranquilamente cuando ___ el terremoto.

Accepted Answer

dormía / empezó. Sleeping is the ongoing background (imperfect), the earthquake that started is the interrupting event (preterite).

Question 29

Le pregunté tres veces, pero no ___ contestar.

Accepted Answer

quiso. Querer in the preterite (negative) means refused. No quería would mean didn't want (state), no quiso means refused (action / decision).

Question 30

Cuando vivíamos en el campo, ___ las estrellas cada noche.

Accepted Answer

mirábamos. Cada noche + ongoing past situation = habit. Imperfect.

Preterite vs Imperfect Practice

Two Spanish past tenses for one English verb.

Practice.

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