Spanish verbs are kicking my butt.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

I'm trying to learn the difference between preterite and imperfect plus all of the irregulars. Big test coming this week.
Any tips? I'm having huge retention problems this semester.

[Spinzonner]

1. That last sentence is such a ripe, juicy straight line

that I'm too ashamed to exploit it. It's too easy.

[mopinko]

2. my tip

if you study stoned, take the test stoned. lo siento, no hablo.

[tjdee]

3. Here's a tip:

If I remember correctly, preterite is used for definite actions...like, he shut the door. Imperfect is used for something...not that, LOL.
"She was reading when the phone rang...."
Ella leia cuando el telephono sono.
Would be imperfect first, then preterite.

Um, I think, LOL. It's been a looong time.

Good luck!

[BlackVelvetElvis]

4. Thank you.

A past action that is interrupted. It those multitude of endings that are giving me hell.

[tjdee]

5. Yeah, there are sooo many.

"ver" itself is enough to hurt someone for days.

You'll do fine.

[imenja]

6. well, some basic guidelines

the preterit refers to a finite stage in the past. The imperfect refers to an ongoing process. Descriptions are imperfect: I was tired. Yo era cansada. He was fat. El era gordo. When I was ten years old. Quando tenia quinze anos.
As opposed to something that was completed in a finite amount of time: Yo fui al cinema. I went to the movies. Hizo el trabajo. I did the work.

Wikipedia gives an explanation of some differences: tuvo una hija (she gave birth to a daughter). Tenia una hija ( she had a daughter). Both use the verb tener, to have, but have entirely different meanings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_verbs#Contrasting_the_preterite_and_the_imperfect

Learning irregulars are just about memorizing. Spanish is a nearly completely regular language. It doesn't get much easier. My Spanish sucks, because I translate everything from Portuguese into Spanish. The basic rules are the same, but Portuguese is less regular and uses a future subjunctive.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

7. Thanks for the link.

My class had to conjugate irregulars on our last small test. My professor patted me on the shoulder and said, "Did you get confused? They looked like Portugese".
I had to laugh at that.

[imenja]

9. one semester I took Portuguese and Spanish back to back

Lord, you should have seen my tests. What a nightmare.

My brain only has one slot for a foreign language, and right now it's Portuguese.

[drdon326]

8. Que es su problema ??

[BlackVelvetElvis]

10. Now you're just showing off.

;-)

I can't get those endings straight between preterite and imperfect. Plus the irregulars thrown into the mix just create confusion.
My professor takes off points if you put an accent mark in the wrong place (understandable).

[imenja]

12. shouldn't it be: Qual es su problema?

but that may be Portuguese confusion on my part.

[kitkatrose]

11. I feel ya.

I'm in spanish IV, and I still haven't gotten all of the tenses yet. Wait til you get to compound tenses. I have, had, should have been, etc. Trust me, it gets worse. Buena suerte! :P

[BlackVelvetElvis]

14. Oh hell.

I have one more semester of Spanish after this. I really want to learn it though, not just get by.
Maybe I should try immersion.

[kitkatrose]

16. That's what I'm doing,

but learning Spanish is incidental to why I'm in Costa Rica. But immersion is really the only way to get it right, unless you're speaking it with someone else who's got it down.

[Maestro]

13. Look at it like this

The preterite is simply a description of an action that is done, completed, finished. It started and then it ended. Some examples include: Estudié anoche. Hablamos por teléfono. Whereas the imperfect is a description on an ongoing action as it is described in the past. This commonly is used in English with the past tense of the helping verb, to be in the past plus the gerund form of the verb. This is called the past progressive. An example of this would be. I was reading my book.

The imperfect is known as the story telling conjugation. As others have described, it can be used to describe an interrupted past action. Comía la cena cuando el teléfono sonó. The phone rang and that event is over. My eating was interuppted, therefore the imperfect must be used. Cuando yo era niño, jugaba el béisbol. Here I am describing, in a narrative form, my childhood. Any narrative descriptions of the past are mostly imperfect, but NOT always. George Washington fue el primer presidente. Here are you describing an event that started and ended. Even though it could be seen as a narrative description of the past, it describes an event that is done.

There are many more nuances that are involved in understanding these two forms, but for what you are doing this will suffice. If you have questions, let me know or if anybody else has questions, let me know.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

15. Mucho gracias! nt

[Maestro]

17. Actually

Muchas gracias. That'll be minus 1 for not making the adjective agree in number and gender with the noun. ;)

[BlackVelvetElvis]

18. See why I need help!

;-)