Question

What is the difference between preterite and imperfect and the past progressive and present progressive?

Answer 1

The preterite is used for actions in the past that are seen as completed, while the imperfect tense is used for past actions that did not have a definite beginning or a definite end.

Answer 2

Preterite and imperfect are both verb tenses used for the past in Spanish. There are many different reasons to choose between the two, some of my go-tos are that the imperfect is used to describe an action that is repeated over time, such as "I ate bananas every morning" "comía bananas cada mañana" while the Preterite is an action that only occurred once, such as "I ate a banana" "comí una banana". You'll notice that imperfect verbs usually end in ía or aba