be used to say what happened
yesterday, last week, last month
or last year.
You will usually learn the simple
past & the imperfect next.
These can be confusing for English
speakers simply because they
translate the same.
We say ‘’I walked to the market
this morning’’.
In Spanish that’s the simple past
Caminé al mercado esta mañana.
We also say “I walked to school
every day’’.
In Spanish that’s the imperfect.
Yo caminaba a colegio cada día’.
The simple past is used for a past
action which happened at a clear
point in time, or for something
which happened for a clear period
of time. When we know clearly
when the action started &/or
finished.
Also, for something repeated
when we know & state how many
times it happened.
For something which can only
happen once, such as doing
something for the first time
– or being born, for instance!
It might have happened a
couple of minutes ago, or
a couple of centuries ago.
We can say Esta mañana
tomamos un café juntos. This
morning we had a coffee together.
El viernes pasado tomamos un
café juntos. Last Friday we had a
coffee together.