Beginning Spanish ¡Empecemos por aquí!

Module C: Long-term goals  • 427 Llamaba a mi papá por teléfono cuando choqué contra un árbol. (I was in the process of calling my dad at the point when I hit the tree.) Hacía galletas y miraba Netflix. (Concurrent: I was making cookies and watching Netflix.) Hice galletas y miré Netflix. (Sequential and/or separate: I made cookies and watched Netflix.) At this stage, we will avoid sentences in which both verb tenses are equally logical and instead work on distinguishing between the two verb tenses in more straightforward situations. Here are some tips for deciding which tense to use: 1. If there is an explicit duration or number of occurrences, it is most likely preterite. Caminé por dos horas. Escalé ese árbol mil veces en mi niñez. 2. If it is in a sequence of successive actions, it is most likely preterite. Salí de la casa, fui a la tienda y compré leche. 3. If it expresses an action that interrupted another situation, it is likely preterite. Mi mamá llamó mientras yo hacía tarea. 4. If it narrates a specific event, viewed as completed, it is most likely preterite. Vi Bonanza cuando visité a mi abuelo en marzo. 5. If it describes what things were like, it is most likely imperfect. Era sábado. Tenía mucho trabajo. Quería dormir. 6. If it describes a habitual action with no specific number of occurrences, it is most likely imperfect. (This is like “I used to [verb]” in English.) De niño, siempre veía Bonanza cuando visitaba a mis abuelos. 7. If it describes a situation that was interrupted, it is most likely imperfect. (This is like “I was [verbing]” in English.) Mi mamá llamó mientras yo hacía tarea. Stories will almost always have a mixture of the two tenses. We use the imperfect to set the stage, describing what things were like and what was going on. We use the preterite for the action that occurs: Cuando vivía en México, tenía un apartamento pequeño cerca del centro. Me gustaba caminar a la frutería, y siempre practicaba mi español con los trabajadores allí. Un día mientras caminaba a la frutería, escuchémúsica deMetallica. Lamúsica venía de la frutería. Cuando llegué allí, le pregunté a mi amigo por qué ponía Metallica. ¡Me dijo que la ponía por mí! Él pensaba que me gustaba la música en inglés por ser estadounidense, y Metallica era su grupo estadounidense favorito. When we talk in general terms about our childhood, there is a lot of imperfect because we are describ- ing what things were like and expressing habitual actions. When we want to tell a story about a particular event from our childhood, that is where the preterite comes in: