En el año 1976 viví en Francia de
marzo a junio. In 1976
I lived in France from March to
June.
La Batalla de Hastings fue en
1066.
The Battle of Hastings was in
1066.
I affectionately call the imperfect
’The wishy washy past’.
We use it for past actions when we
don’t know when they happened,
nor how often, nor how long they
lasted. They are repeated, ongoing
or incomplete past actions.
Cuando yo era joven me gustaba
ir al colegio.
When I was young I liked going to
school.
Being young isn’t a fixed period –
we don’t know when it started or
finished.
Visitaban a sus abuelos cada
domingo. They visited their
grandparents every Sunday. We
don’t when, nor how often.
Now for the past perfect. This is
the ‘had done something’ tense.
We mostly use it for talking about
something which had happened
when something else did. It uses
the imperfect of haber with the
past participle.
Habíamos empezado a comer
cuando él llegó.
We had started eating when he
arrived.
Habían estudiado bien, conque
pasaron los exámenes.
They had studied well so they
passed the exams.