
In a negative sentence, the imperfect tense of poder indicates an ongoing lack of ability to do something that was assumed or obvious. The imperfect forms of poder express an ongoing ability to do something in the past. This concept is often expressed idiomatically in English as “can (is able to) do something” in the present tense or “could (was able to) do something” in the past. Poder is translated “to be able.” It is always followed by a verb in its infinitive form. He found out the address and went to her house.
Preterite: saber = found out (some fact). When the moment the fact was first known is the focus of the sentence, it is stated in English as the instance when something was “found out.” The preterite forms of saber are the Spanish way of expressing the English idiomatic expression “found out.” Here are examples of saber in the imperfect and preterite tenses: Saber means “to know a fact.” In the imperfect, it simply means “used to know” or “knew a fact” because knowledge of a fact was ongoing. My students became acquainted with Madrid during our Educational trip to Spain. Mis estudiantes conocieron Madrid durante nuestro viaje educativo a España. Preterite: conocer = met, became acquainted with. You were well acquainted with Mexico City. Imperfect: conocer = knew, was acquainted with. Online Quizzes for CliffsNotes Spanish I QuickReview, 2nd Edition. Quiz: Command Forms with Reflexive Pronouns. Reflexive, Prepositional, and Demonstrative Pronouns. Verbs That Change Meaning in the Preterite. Quiz: Verbs That Change Meaning in the Preterite. Quiz: Irregulars in the Preterite Tense. Quiz: Stem Changers in the Preterite Tense. Quiz: Different Yo Forms in the Preterite Tense. Different Yo Forms in the Preterite Tense. Quiz: Regular Verbs in the Preterite Tense. Quiz Indirect Objects and Indirect Object Pronouns. Indirect Objects and Indirect Object Pronouns. Quiz: Direct Objects and Direct Object Pronouns. Direct Objects and Direct Object Pronouns. Quiz: Using the Right Pronoun to Answer a Question. Using the Right Pronoun to Answer a Question. Quiz: Interrogative Pronouns (Question Words). Interrogative Pronouns (Question Words). Stem-Changing Verbs in the Present Tense. Quiz: Common Verbs Irregular in the Present Tense. Common Verbs Irregular in the Present Tense. Quiz: Confusing Verbs: Determining which Verb to Use. Confusing Verbs: Determining Which Verb to Use. Quiz: Stem-Changing Verbs in the Present Tense. Quiz: Regular Verbs in the Present Tense. Unfortunately, you are going to find many irregular verbs in the Spanish preterite tense. The Spanish imperfect tense refers to a past action. Want to learn more about Spanish Tenses? Take a look at these lessons:
Nosotros fuimos a la piscina la semana pasada. See if you can guess the meaning of the verbs in the examples below:ġ. Quite simply, by context! You’ll have to figure out which verb is meant by the rest of the words in the sentence. Now that you’ve memorized the verb forms for ir and ser, you may be wondering how in the world you will ever know whether a sentence with the word fui means “ I went_” or “_I was.”