Preterite vs Imperfect
The preterite (fun, comín) tells what happened and is over. The imperfect (ía, comía) describes the scene, habits and actions that were in progress.
How It Works
Two ways to look at the past. The preterite (falei, comín, fun) presents an event as a whole: it happened and it is over. The imperfect, called copretérito (falaba, comía, era), shows the past from the inside: a situation in progress, a description, or a repeated habit.
Use the imperfect for:
- Background and description: Era de noite e chovía. (It was night and it was raining.)
- Habits and repeated actions: Todos os veráns iamos á praia. (Every summer we went to the beach.)
- An action in progress when something else happened: Lía cando chegou. (I was reading when he arrived.)
- Age, time and states: Tiña dez anos. Eran as tres.
Use the preterite for:
- Single completed events: Onte fun ao cine. (Yesterday I went to the cinema.)
- A sequence of events that moves a story forward: Cheguei, saudei e sentei. (I arrived, said hello and sat down.)
- Events with a clear limit, even long ones: Vivín tres anos en Lugo. (I lived in Lugo for three years.)
In a story they work together. The imperfect sets the scene and the preterite tells what happened in it: Estaba na ducha cando soou o teléfono.
No compound past tenses. Standard Galician does not build its past tenses with haber, like Spanish he comido or había comido. The preterite also covers English "have done" (Hoxe comín moito, I have eaten a lot today), and an earlier past uses the one-word antepretérito (o tren xa saíra).
Examples (6)
- Cando era neno, vivía en Ferrol.
When I was a child, I lived in Ferrol.
Both verbs are imperfect: they describe a period of life, not a single event.
- Lía cando chegou a miña irmá.
I was reading when my sister arrived.
Lía is the action in progress; chegou is the completed event that interrupts it.
- Onte fun ao cine e vin unha película francesa.
Yesterday I went to the cinema and saw a French film.
Two completed events in sequence, so both are preterite.
- Todos os veráns iamos á praia de Riazor.
Every summer we used to go to Riazor beach.
Iamos expresses a repeated habit.
- Chovía moito, así que collín un taxi.
It was raining hard, so I took a taxi.
Chovía gives the background; collín is the decision that followed.
- Estaba na ducha cando soou o teléfono.
I was in the shower when the phone rang.
Estaba sets the scene; soou is the event.
Common Mistakes
Using the imperfect for a single completed event.
Onte ía ao médico ás dez.Onte fun ao médico ás dez.To say "yesterday I went to the doctor at ten", the visit is one completed event, so use the preterite fun. Ía would mean "I was going" or "I used to go".
Using the preterite for an action that was already in progress.
Lin cando chegou a miña irmá.Lía cando chegou a miña irmá.To say "I was reading when my sister arrived", the reading was already going on, so use the imperfect lía. Lin cando chegou means you started reading after she arrived.
How It Connects
Learn This First
The preterite and imperfect give different views of a past situation.
Related Patterns
- Imperfect of -ar Verbs
How to form the imperfect of -ar verbs.
Level 2 - Imperfect of ser, ter, vir and pórIrregular Imperfects
The four irregular imperfects, which appear constantly in descriptions.
Level 2 - candoWhen: Cando
Cando often links an imperfect background to a preterite event.
Level 2 - estar + GerundAction in Progress: Estar + Gerund
Estaba + gerund is another way to show an action in progress in the past.
Level 2 - The Simple Pluperfect (Antepretérito)
The one-word pluperfect for an event before another past event.
Level 3
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice Preterite vs Imperfect in Bubblegum
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