When you're not sure whether to use the preterite or the imperfect, the time expression in the sentence is often the first thing to look at. Some adverbs and phrases are so closely associated with one tense or the other that pairing them with the wrong tense sounds immediately wrong to a native speaker — almost like a grammatical error rather than a stylistic choice.
This page gives you the two columns side by side, plus the peninsular twist: in Spain, a third column matters too — the markers that pull you into the pretérito perfecto (present perfect) instead of the preterite. Hoy comí is fine in Mexico; in Spain it almost always wants to be hoy he comido.
The preterite triggers — bounded, dated, finished
The preterite is the tense for events that happened at a specific, completed point or within a specific, closed period. Time expressions that lock the event to a bounded slot in the past are preterite triggers.
| Spanish marker | English equivalent |
|---|---|
| ayer | yesterday |
| anoche | last night |
| anteayer | the day before yesterday |
| el lunes (martes, etc.) | on Monday (a specific past Monday) |
| el lunes pasado | last Monday |
| la semana pasada | last week |
| el mes pasado | last month |
| el año pasado | last year |
| en 1995, en marzo, en mayo | in 1995, in March, in May |
| hace dos años, hace una hora | two years ago, an hour ago |
| durante tres meses, durante toda la tarde | for three months, all afternoon |
| de repente, de pronto | suddenly |
| una vez, dos veces, tres veces | once, twice, three times |
| al final, al principio | in the end, at the start |
| entonces (in the sense of 'then, next') | then (sequence marker) |
Ayer comí con mis padres en un restaurante nuevo de Malasaña.
Yesterday I had lunch with my parents at a new restaurant in Malasaña.
El año pasado viajamos a Japón por primera vez.
Last year we travelled to Japan for the first time.
Hace tres meses cambié de trabajo y no me arrepiento.
Three months ago I changed jobs and I don't regret it.
De repente sonó el timbre y todos nos quedamos en silencio.
Suddenly the doorbell rang and we all went quiet.
Estuve enfermo durante dos semanas — fue una gripe horrible.
I was ill for two weeks — it was a horrible flu.
Notice that durante + duration takes the preterite, even though English for two weeks feels continuous. In Spanish, when the duration is closed (it had a start and an end), it's the preterite — the whole period is treated as one bounded event.
The imperfect triggers — habitual, ongoing, background
The imperfect is the tense for habits, repeated actions, and ongoing background states with no clear endpoint. Time expressions that signal repetition, regularity, or unbounded duration are imperfect triggers.
| Spanish marker | English equivalent |
|---|---|
| cuando era niño / niña / pequeño | when I was a kid |
| cuando tenía X años | when I was X years old |
| antes | before, in the past |
| siempre | always |
| nunca (with habits, not single events) | never (in habits) |
| todos los días, todas las semanas | every day, every week |
| cada año, cada verano | every year, every summer |
| a menudo, frecuentemente | often, frequently |
| normalmente, generalmente | normally, generally |
| a veces, de vez en cuando | sometimes, from time to time |
| los lunes, los fines de semana | on Mondays, on weekends (habitual) |
| mientras | while (background to another event) |
| en aquella época, en esos años | back then, in those years |
| mientras tanto | meanwhile |
Cuando era niño íbamos todos los veranos al pueblo de mis abuelos.
When I was a kid we used to go to my grandparents' village every summer.
Antes los lunes me costaba muchísimo levantarme, ahora ya no tanto.
In the past Mondays were really hard to get out of bed, now not so much.
Mientras yo cocinaba, mi pareja ponía la mesa y abría una botella de vino.
While I was cooking, my partner would set the table and open a bottle of wine.
A menudo me llamaba a las once de la noche para contarme tonterías.
He often used to call me at eleven at night to tell me silly things.
De pequeño no me gustaba nada el pescado, ahora me encanta.
As a kid I didn't like fish at all, now I love it.
The same time word, two different meanings
Some Spanish words go in different columns depending on the meaning. Two of these matter especially.
siempre
Siempre normally triggers the imperfect when it describes a habit (siempre llegaba tarde = he was always late, as a habit). But siempre can also appear with the preterite when the speaker is summing up a closed period in retrospect (siempre me trató bien = throughout the whole time I knew him, he treated me well — closed frame, often used when the person is no longer in your life).
Mi abuelo siempre nos contaba historias de la guerra.
My grandfather was always telling us stories about the war.
Mi abuelo siempre me trató como a su hijo favorito.
My grandfather always treated me like his favourite child.
The first is habit (contaba, imperfect). The second is the whole arc of the relationship, viewed as a closed unit now that he's gone (trató, preterite). Both are good Spanish.
nunca
Same logic. Nunca + imperfect = habitual negation (nunca llegaba a tiempo = he was never on time, as a habit). Nunca + preterite = absolute negation across a closed period (nunca llegó a tiempo = he never once arrived on time, over the whole period in question).
Mi compañero de piso nunca lavaba los platos, era un desastre.
My flatmate never used to do the dishes, he was a disaster.
Estuvimos un año viviendo juntos y nunca lavó los platos ni una vez.
We lived together for a year and he never once washed the dishes.
The peninsular twist: today's events take the present perfect
This is the column that throws off Latin-American-trained learners. In peninsular Spanish, time expressions that locate an event within the speaker's current frame of reference — today, this week, this year — take the pretérito perfecto (he hablado, has comido, ha llegado), not the preterite.
| Marker | Spain (present perfect) | Latin America (preterite) |
|---|---|---|
| hoy | Hoy he desayunado fuera. | Hoy desayuné afuera. |
| esta mañana / esta tarde | Esta mañana he ido al médico. | Esta mañana fui al médico. |
| esta semana | Esta semana hemos trabajado mucho. | Esta semana trabajamos mucho. |
| este mes | Este mes he gastado demasiado. | Este mes gasté demasiado. |
| este año | Este año he viajado tres veces. | Este año viajé tres veces. |
| últimamente | Últimamente he estado cansado. | Últimamente estuve / he estado cansado. |
| todavía no, ya | Todavía no ha llegado. ¿Ya has comido? | Todavía no llegó. ¿Ya comiste? |
| alguna vez, nunca (experiential) | ¿Has estado alguna vez en Granada? | ¿Estuviste alguna vez en Granada? |
Hoy he comido fatal — un sándwich de máquina y un café.
I've eaten terribly today — a sandwich from a vending machine and a coffee.
Esta semana hemos tenido tres reuniones, una detrás de otra.
This week we've had three meetings, one after the other.
¿Has visto la nueva película de Almodóvar? — Todavía no, este finde quiero ir.
Have you seen the new Almodóvar film? — Not yet, I want to go this weekend.
The threshold for "current frame" is fluid, but today is rigid: in Spain, an event that happened today almost always wants the present perfect. Esta semana, este mes, este año lean strongly the same way, especially when the speaker feels the period is still open. For a deeper treatment see verbs/present-perfect/peninsular-hodiernal-use.
Time markers in narrative — using both columns together
The real power of the time-marker chart is that it lets you build a narrative that flips fluidly between background and event. Imperfect markers set the scene; preterite markers move the action forward; perfect markers connect the past to "now".
Cuando era pequeña vivíamos en un piso muy pequeño en Vallecas. Mis padres trabajaban los dos, así que mi abuela me cuidaba todas las tardes. Una tarde de invierno, hace unos veinte años, mi abuela se cayó por las escaleras y tuvimos que llamar a una ambulancia. Desde entonces hemos vivido siempre con miedo a las escaleras.
When I was little we lived in a really small flat in Vallecas. My parents both worked, so my grandmother used to look after me every afternoon. One winter afternoon, about twenty years ago, my grandmother fell down the stairs and we had to call an ambulance. Ever since then we've always been afraid of stairs.
The imperfect markers (cuando era pequeña, todas las tardes) give you the background. The preterite markers (una tarde de invierno, hace unos veinte años) snap the action forward. The perfect marker (desde entonces) links the past event to the speaker's present. This kind of layering is what you're aiming for.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ayer iba al cine con Marta.
Wrong tense — 'ayer' is a preterite trigger
✅ Ayer fui al cine con Marta.
Yesterday I went to the cinema with Marta.
Ayer almost always wants the preterite. The exception is when ayer anchors a background scene for some other event (Ayer, mientras iba al cine, vi a Pablo — yesterday, while I was on my way to the cinema, I saw Pablo). In isolation, ayer iba sounds incomplete.
❌ Cuando era pequeño fui al cole en bici todos los días.
Wrong tense — habitual action with 'todos los días' needs the imperfect
✅ Cuando era pequeño iba al cole en bici todos los días.
When I was little I used to go to school by bike every day.
Todos los días + childhood frame = repeated habit = imperfect. Mixing in fui freezes the action into a single event, which contradicts the every day part.
❌ Hoy comí con mi madre.
Sounds non-peninsular — Spain uses the present perfect for today's events
✅ Hoy he comido con mi madre.
I had lunch with my mum today.
This is the cardinal peninsular marker. Hoy almost always pulls the verb into the present perfect in Spain. Hoy comí is grammatical but immediately marks you as not-from-Spain.
❌ Antes voy mucho a ese bar.
Wrong tense — 'antes' wants the imperfect for past habits
✅ Antes iba mucho a ese bar.
I used to go to that bar a lot.
Antes meaning in the past, formerly is an imperfect trigger — it's almost a synonym for used to. Pairing it with the preterite sounds garbled.
❌ A menudo fui a verla al hospital cuando estaba enferma.
Wrong tense — 'a menudo' (often) is a habitual marker and wants the imperfect
✅ A menudo iba a verla al hospital cuando estaba enferma.
I often went to see her at the hospital when she was sick.
A menudo means often, which is habitual by definition. The preterite would close the action into a single visit, which clashes with often.
❌ Una vez iba a Barcelona en avión y conocí a un actor famoso.
Wrong tense — 'una vez' (a specific time) is a preterite trigger
✅ Una vez fui a Barcelona en avión y conocí a un actor famoso.
Once I went to Barcelona by plane and met a famous actor.
Una vez picks out a single, specific time — exactly what the preterite is for. The imperfect iba would suggest an ongoing or repeated state of going, which doesn't fit una vez.
Key takeaways
- The preterite goes with dated, bounded, finished markers: ayer, anoche, el lunes, hace X, en 1995, una vez, de repente.
- The imperfect goes with habitual, repeated, ongoing background markers: cuando era niño, siempre, todos los días, a menudo, mientras, antes.
- In Spain, markers that include the speaker's current frame — hoy, esta semana, este mes, este año, ya, todavía no, alguna vez — take the pretérito perfecto rather than the preterite.
- Siempre and nunca can take either preterite or imperfect depending on whether you mean a habit or a closed-period totality.
- For the peninsular present-perfect detail, see verbs/present-perfect/peninsular-hodiernal-use. For the change-of-state contrast, see verbs/preterite-vs-imperfect/changed-states.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Pretérito con expresiones temporalesA2 — The time expressions that trigger the preterite in peninsular Spanish — ayer, anoche, hace dos años, en 2010, durante tres horas — and the equally important set that triggers the present perfect instead in Spain.
- Imperfecto para acciones habitualesA2 — The imperfect's bread-and-butter use: things you used to do in the past, things you would do on a regular basis, patterns and routines that repeated themselves. If English would say 'used to' or habitual 'would', Spanish uses the imperfect.
- Cambios de estado: pretérito vs imperfectoB1 — How Spanish splits 'being in a state' from 'entering a state' across the imperfect and the preterite — the ponerse / volverse / hacerse family, the estar + adjetivo background, and why 'he was angry' translates two different ways.
- Cómo elegir entre pretérito y pretérito perfectoA2 — Peninsular Spanish's defining past-tense choice. He comido for actions inside the current time frame (hoy, esta semana, este año, en mi vida); comí for actions outside it (ayer, la semana pasada, hace dos años). Time markers do most of the work. Plus the peninsular vs Latin American contrast and the northern Spain counter-trap.
- Pretérito perfecto hodiernal en EspañaA2 — Why peninsular Spanish forces the present perfect (he comido) for any event that happened today — and often this week, this month, or this year — where Latin America would use the simple preterite.