Coffee Break Spanish - CBS 2.18 | Talking more about the past - the imperfect tense

Episode Date: July 27, 2010

In this week’s lesson we introduce the imperfect tense and consider in what situations this tense is used. We’ll also learn the conjugation of -ar verbs in the imperfect tense. Please note that lesson 18 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 218 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.This season of Coffee Break Spanish features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from video versions, lesson notes and bonus audio materials, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Spanish in the Coffee Break Academy.Don’t forget to follow Coffee Break Spanish on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Spanish. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Spanish Facebook page here.If you’d like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram.You can also check out our Coffee Break Spanish Twitter page and the Coffee Break Languages YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Olai, Gienino said Coffee Break Spanish. Welcome back to Coffee Break Spanish. Now, in this lesson, we're introducing a new tense. This new tense is called the imperfect, and it's another of the tenses that's used to talk about the past. Sometimes it's a little tricky to begin with, to know whether to use the imperfect or the preterate, the one that you've already learned. But with this lesson, we'll explain all the situations where you would use one versus the other, and hopefully everything will become clear. I hope you enjoy the life. So tonight we're going to be looking at a new tense, a tense that's used in the past for a particular reason. This tense is called the imperfect tense, and in a sense it's quite a funny name for a verbal tense, the imperfect.

There's nothing really imperfect about it, although you could say that something is imperfect if it's not yet finished, or if it wasn't yet finished at the time of speaking. It's probably getting a little bit complicated already, but don't worry. There are some really simple rules to remember when you use the imperfect tense. First of all, let's think of some situations in English. Let's think of the situation that I was still writing the script for tonight's lesson when Kara arrived. Now, Kara arrived. We know which tense that would be. It would be the... The preterate.

Yeah, it's the preterate. Because Kara arrived is a completed action. It's something that happened once. Kara arrived. Now, whenever I teach this tends to classes, I always use a kind of strange word, a word that I've made up myself. Kara arrived, thum. That is a narrative part of this story. Kara arrived, stum. Okay, and if you wanted to spell that, it would be T-H-T-O-O-M. Okay?

So that's your thum. It's your Kara arrived narrative, what happened in the story. But when did Kara arrive? Kara arrived while I was preparing this script. So I was writing the script That's not a thum That's an ongoing thing Okay

So I was writing the script When thtum Kara arrived So Kara arrived is really clear It's the preterate tense But I was writing Dum-de-Dum-de-dum When Kara arrived

Thum So I was writing Is the imperfect Okay I was doing something the imperfect. So if you think of thum

for your carrot arrived, that's the narrative part and the imperfect is the dum-de-dum-de-dum I was writing the script when thtum carat arrived. So we've got dum-de-dum-d-d-d-dums

and thtoms. The dum-de-dumd-d-dums are the imperfect and the thum is the preterate. Okay, let's think of another example. The boys were playing football when a dog ran onto the pitch. So which one's your dum-de-dum-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-m there?

The boys were playing football. And the dog ran onto the pitch? Stoom. Stoom, exactly. So the boys were playing football. That's your imperfect because it's dum-de-rum-de-dum. And the dog ran onto the pitch, the preterate, because it's your th-thum. the dog ran onto the pitch.

Okay. Now, to confuse you further here, the dog was running onto the pitch when it tripped and fell over. So the dog was running onto the pitch when it tripped and fell over. Doom. Yeah, exactly.

The dog was running onto the pitch an imperfect tense and it fell over a preterate. So one of your key concepts when you're talking about the imperfect tense, your dum-de-dum-de-dum is was doing or were doing something. So these are key, key words if you like. Was doing, were doing. Was playing, he was playing, they were singing, I was writing and so on. This was or where doing something is how we

would deal with the imperfect in English. It's one of the situations where we would deal with the imperfect in English. Now let's think of another situation. if you want to say again talking in the past when I was young I used to go to a theatre class on a Saturday morning

okay when I was young I used to go to a theatre class on a Saturday morning is that a sthom is that an event that happened once no it's something that I used to do every Saturday yeah Yep.

So in a sense it's definitely not a thtoom. Could you describe that as a dumdy-dum-de-dum? Yeah, because every second week would be a dumb and every other week would be a day. So you've got dum-de-dum-de-dum. Okay, Kara, yeah, whatever. Basically, your keywords here are used to. Okay, so I used to do something,

he used to do something, she used to do something or she used to sing, she used to go, whatever. That is another situation where you use the imperfect tense. So I used to go to a theatre class every Saturday morning. Imperfect. So let's think about the imperfect a little more. We've already had the situation where it was doing or where doing something,

your first set of keywords. We've now looked at the used to do something. And that's another keyword. Now a third situation, this one's a little more. complex because it's perhaps slightly confusing. I'm almost hesitant to introduce this, but I'm sure that our listeners are very intelligent people. I'm sure you'll cope with this, no bother at all. Think of this one as the sort of looking back to the happy times in the past. When I lived in Salamanca in Spain, in the evenings I would wander into the town, I would sit

myself down in the pletha major i would have a coffee or a beer or something in the pletha major and i would sit and watch the people going past and then i would meet up with some friends we're using an a wood here this is wood i would do something but it's not the i would do something if i had the money that's a different type of wood this is this wood in the past thinking back to times in the past i would do this and i would do that and and so on so that's another situation, it's very like the used to, but it's used with the imperfect in the past. Okay. Okay, so we've got was and where.

We've got we used to do something and the wood in the past. That's it. Your was and where doing something. It's quite important to get the doing something in because was and where on their own can be slightly different, but we'll not go there just now. So there wasn't worth doing something that used to do something and would do something thinking about the happy times in the past, or indeed sad times in the past, but anyway.

So those are three situations where you would use the imperfect tense. Okay, we'll be back in just a moment. When you're not listening to Coffee Break Spanish, you can still practice your Spanish with our regular posts on social media. Find us on Facebook, just search for Coffee Break Spanish. We're Learn Spanish on Twitter. and you can keep up with the team through our regular posts on Instagram. Follow coffee break languages.

It's our mission to help you turn your downtime into your due time. Okay, let's get on with the lesson. I'm going to put you to the test now, Kara, to see if you've understood this. I'm going to give you some situations in English, and I want you to tell me what the tense would be. In some cases, the sentence will include two verbs. Okay, so here goes the first one. this morning I did my homework

You did your homework once So that would be a preterate Well, you're in, okay, number two This morning when I was eating my breakfast I remembered I had to do my homework When you were eating your breakfast That would be the imperfect But then you realised being the preterate

Good stuff What about when I was young I broke my leg When I was young would be the imperfect and then I broke my leg would be the perfect Good stuff, yeah we'll come back to when I was young a bit later on

but I broke my leg is definitely the preterate. You were right with was being the imperfect but we'll come back to that because it's one of those other situations that we've not quite covered yet so let's try another one. When I lived in London I would go to the theatre every month.

You lived in London for a long time, so that would be the imperfect, and you used to go to theatre often, so that would be the imperfect too. Good stuff. And one last one, I discovered Coffee Break Spanish a year ago, and I am learning lots. Okay, you discovered it. once so that would be a stum so it's a preterate

and you are learning would that be the present? Yeah, that's the present well done yeah, you picked up that little one I threw in there to just test if you were listening, yeah, the preterate and the present tense there.

Very well. Now I think I'm right in saying Kara that you fully understand now when you use the imperfect and the preterate, certainly in the situations we've covered so far would I be right in saying that? I think so. Hopefully our listeners do too. But what we've not done yet is actually talk about how you form the imperfect tense.

It's actually extremely easy. And the best bit about this is that there are very, very few verbs that are irregular in any way in the imperfect. Yay! So let's look at AR verbs in the imperfect. Let's take cantar to sing. so if we're talking about I was singing I used to sing

I would sing karaoke every night in Spain or whatever it's the imperfect tense of cantar now singing it's quite a good one to start with because the ending is Abba Like the music group

Absolutely Abba I like this one Abba Abba Ava So you take off the ending of the infinitive you take off the A and add abba. So cantar becomes cantava.

Cantava. Cantava. Cantava means I was singing. I used to sing. I would sing in the past and so on. So cantava. Cantava. Dum-di-d-d-dum-d-d-d-d-dum.

Cantava. You never see where the dum-de-dum is coming. Okay, cantava. You used to sing would be cantabas cantavas so you've got the S ending that you're very familiar with

for the two form so I can'taba canta you cantabas and then el or ella he she or it or indeed

Ustead can'taba can'ta again yeah cantava same as the yo form same as the I form

cantava cantabas Can'taba. Canada, can'tadas, cantara. Okay. Do you have any ideas as to what the we form could possibly be? Cantabamos? Almost perfect. You've got the letters right.

It's just the stress that you've got wrong. Cantabamos. Cantabamos. Cantabamos. Cantavamos. So if cantabamos means we were singing, how would you say you all in the Spanish informal plural form were singing? Cantavais.

Cantabais. So cantabamos, cantabais. Cantabamos, cantabais. And then the day form is cantaban. Cantaban. Again, you've got these similar endings, similar patterns in this tense as well. So, cantaba, cantabas, cantabamos, cantabais,

cantaban. Cantabha, cantabas, cantababas, cantabas, cantabas, cantabans, cantaban. Perfecto. Cantab, cantabas, cantabes, cantabann. Let's take another verb.

And we'll go with Bailar, this time. Another thing that should make you think of ABA and Dancing Queen and all that kind of stuff. So, Bailaba? Bailava? So, baillabas? Baalabas? Paolabah.

Baalabamos? Baalavas? Bailavais? Bailabas? Bailaban. Bailaban. So how do you say we were dancing? Baalabamos.

How do you say he was singing? Cantava. How would you say, I used to dance? Baalava. Okay, and what about they used to speak? Ablava. Very good. Okay. We've tried you out there with Abla to speak another AR verb so that would be of course

Ablava, Ablavas, Ablaba, Abelabas, Ablabas, Ablavan. Abelabas, Ablavas, Ablava, Ablavamos, Ablaveis, Ablaban. So the imperfect endings of A.R. verbs Ava, ava, avas, avamos, avamos, avamos, avon. And you now also know when to use the imperfect, at least some of the situations in which you use the imperfect.

Kara, can you remind us what they are? When you use was or were doing something, when you used to do something or when you would do something in the past. And these are all the dumdy-dum-de-dums, and sometimes dum-de-dum-d-s are interrupted by... Thooms. And the thtooms would be... The preterate tense. Absolutely.

I think we'll leave it there. There are other situations where you would use the imperfect, but we'll do them next time when we're also learning the regular endings of ER and IR verbs in the imperfect. And there's some good news there too. And that's where we're going to leave it today for this edition of Coffee Break Spanish. Thanks for joining us, and we hope it's been useful. You can join the Coffee Break Spanish community on Facebook at facebook.com slash coffeebreak Spanish and follow at Learn Spanish on Twitter.

much gratis and this is a production of the Radiolingua network find out more at radiolingua.com