Simple Past or Past Imperfect?
The reason so many English speakers struggle with this is that they translate the same into English.
I walked to the beach every day – Yo caminaba a la playa cada día
I walked to the beach this morning – Caminé a la playa esta mañana
The Simple Past is used for something that can only have happened once eg. being born, doing something for the first time….or when you are talking about something that happened on a specific occasion, or when there’s a clear beginning & end to the time frame.
I find that ‘trigger phrases’ help you decide:
ayer –yesterday ayer por la mañana – yesterday morning
ayer por la tarde – yesterday afternoon
anteayer – the day before yesterday anoche – last night
desde el primer momento – from the first moment
después – afterwards durante dos siglos – for two centuries
el año pasado – last year el lunes por la noche – Monday night
el mes pasado – last month el otro día – the other day
en ese momento – at that momento entonces – then
esta mañana – this morning esta tarde – this afternoon
hace dos días, años – two days, years ago la semana pasada – last week
The Past Imperfect is used for repeated actions, something you ‘used to’ do, or when no specific time or time frame is given. Here are some ‘triggers’:
a menudo – often a veces – sometimes
cada día – every day cada año – every year
con frecuencia – frequently de vez en cuando – from time to time
en aquella época – at that time frecuentemente – frequently
generalmente – usually muchas veces – many times
mucho – a lot nunca – never por un rato – for a while
siempre – always tantas veces – so many times
todas las semanas – every week todos los días – every day
todo el tiempo – all the time varias veces – several times
