43 Pretérito imperfecto

Question 1

Listen to the dialogue in which Cristina and Sergio talk about their childhood holidays.

Escucha el diálogo en el que Cristina y Sergio continúan hablando de su infancia.

Listen to the dialogue in which Cristina and Sergio continue talking about their childhood.

de pequeño / de pequeña

when I was little

De pequeño estudiaba mucho.

I used to study a lot when I was little.

de niño / de niña

as a child

¿Cómo eras de niño?

What were you like as a child?

en aquella época

at that time

En aquella época no había tanto tráfico.

At that time there wasn’t so much traffic.

Here’s a tip
In the dialogue Cristina and Sergio use the “pretérito imperfecto” to describe what they used to do during their holidays when they were children. We use the “pretérito imperfecto” to:

• talk about habits in the past: Íbamos allí de vacaciones todos los veranos. (We used to go there on holiday every summer.)
• describe people, things or places in the past: Julia era una niña muy tranquila. (Julia was a very quiet child.)
  We use the “pretérito imperfecto” to talk about past habits: to describe what was usual during a period in the past or what we used to do during a certain time in our lives.

Antes tomaba café todas las mañanas. (I used to have coffee every morning.)
De joven salía todos los fines de semana. (When I was younger, I used to go out every weekend.)
En aquella época no existían los móviles. (At that time, mobile phones didn’t exist.)
Choosing when to use the “pretérito indefinido” and the “pretérito imperfecto” can be tricky, but the main difference is:

Pretérito indefinido: the action took place once at a specific moment in the past: Ayer fui al campo. (Yesterday I went to the countryside.)
Pretérito imperfecto: the action used to take place regularly over a period of time in the past: De pequeña iba al campo los domingos. (As a child I used to go to the countryside on Sundays.)
Let’s look at the dialogue between Cristina and Sergio that we listened to earlier.

Mira, una foto mía de cuando tenía 10 años. (Look, it’s a picture of me from when I was 10 years old.)
¡Qué guapa! ¿Dónde estabas? (So pretty! Where were you?)
Estaba en la playa con mi familia. Íbamos allí de vacaciones todos los veranos. Y tú, ¿qué hacías durante las vacaciones? (I was at the beach with my family. We used to go there on holiday every summer. And you, what did you used to do in the holidays?)
Yo pasaba los veranos en la casa de mis abuelos. En aquella época vivían en el campo, y salíamos a pasear todos los días. (I used to spend summers at my grandparents’. At that time, they were living in the countryside and we used to go for a walk every day.)
In this dialogue, Cristina is using the “pretérito imperfecto” to describe people in the past.

Este es mi hermano. Era muy alto y llevaba gafas de pequeño. (This is my brother. He was very tall and he used to wear glasses.)
Es mi hermana Silvia. De niña era gordita y tenía el pelo muy largo. (She’s my sister Silvia. As a child she was chubby and had very long hair.)
We use the “pretérito imperfecto” to describe people, things or places in the past.

Carla tenía el pelo corto de pequeña. (Carla had short hair as a child.)
La casa de mis abuelos era muy grande. (My grandparents’ house was very big.)
Antes había menos tráfico en esta ciudad. (There used to be less traffic in this city.)
Let’s have a look at the dialogue between Cristina and Sergio:

¿Y quiénes son estos en la foto? (And who are these people in the picture?)
Este es mi hermano. Era muy alto y llevaba gafas de pequeño. (This is my brother. He was very tall and used to wear glasses as a child.)
¿Y esta niña de aquí? (And this girl over here?)
Es mi hermana Silvia. De niña era más gordita y tenía el pelo muy largo. (She’s my sister. When she was a child she was more chubby and had very long hair.)
¿Llevabais chaqueta en la playa? (Were you all wearing a cardigan at the beach?)
Sí, es que ese día hacía frío. (Yes, it was cold that day.)
We can use the “pretérito imperfecto” with different expressions to talk about a time in the past. Here are some examples:

de pequeño / de pequeña: De pequeño iba al campo con mis padres. (As a child I used to go to the countryside with my parents.)
de joven: De joven salía mucho. (When I was young, I used to go out a lot.)
de niño / de niña: ¿Cómo eras de niño? (What were you like as a child?)
a los … años: A los 10 años iba a un colegio cerca de mi casa. (At the age of 10 I was going to a school near my house.)
cuando tenía … años: Cuando tenía 18 años salía mucho con mis amigos. (When I was 18 I used to go out a lot with my friends.)
en aquellos tiempos: En aquellos tiempos no teníamos televisión en casa. (In those times we didn’t have a TV at home.)
en aquella época: En aquella época la gente no tenía móviles. (At that time people didn’t have mobile phones.)

Answer 1

Escucha el diálogo en el que Cristina y Sergio hablan de las vacaciones de su infancia.