Starter quiz
- Match the Spanish and English.
- Nochebuena⇔Christmas Eve ✓
- Nochevieja⇔New Year’s Eve ✓
- Reyes Magos⇔Three Kings ✓
- Día de Reyes⇔Epiphany (6th January) ✓
- santo⇔saint ✓
- cristiano⇔christian ✓
- Which statement best describes the imperfect tense?
- it is used to talk about something completed in the past
- it is used to talk about something that used to happen repeatedly in the past ✓
- it is used to talk about something that is ongoing in the present
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- What is 'you used to help' (singular, informal) in Spanish?
- ayudas
- ayudaba
- ayudabas ✓
- ayudé
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- What is the preterite tense verb in this sentence? Estaba caminando por la calle cuando escuché un ruido detrás de mí.
- estaba
- caminando ✓
- escuché
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- What is the present participle of the verb 'hablar' (to talk, talking)?
- 'hablando' ✓
- Order the words to translate this sentence: I was eating when I decided to dance.
- 1⇔estaba
- 2⇔comiendo
- 3⇔cuando
- 4⇔decidí
- 5⇔bailar
Exit quiz
- Match the Spanish and English.
- evento⇔event ✓
- huelga⇔strike ✓
- paz⇔peace ✓
- manifestación⇔protest ✓
- campaña⇔campaign ✓
- planta⇔floor (of a building) ✓
- The __________ tense is used to talk about something that happened repeatedly in the past.
- preterite
- imperfect ✓
- past continuous
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- Which form of the verb 'ir' completes this sentence?: Lucas ______ a la costa en mayo (Lucas used to go to the coast in May).
- 'iba' ✓
- In which order would the verbs appear in this sentence? __________ de vacaciones a España cada año pero el verano pasado __________ a México.
- 1⇔iba
- 2⇔fui
- Which is an example of the past continuous?
- estaba hablando ✓
- estoy hablando
- estamos hablando
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- Complete the sentence with the correct form of ‘entrar’. Estaba hablando cuando ______ en la cocina.
- entré ✓
- entraba
- entrando
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Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- 'iba', 'ibas' and 'iba' are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular imperfect forms of 'ir'. These are irregular.
- The preterite tense is used to talk about something completed in the past.
- The imperfect tense is used to talk about something that used to happen repeatedly in the past.
- The past continuous is created by combining imperfect forms of 'estar' with the present participle.
- When 'cuando' indicates an interruption to a past continuous action, the preterite tense is generally used afterwards.
Common misconception
The only translation of 'iba' is 'I used to go'.
'iba' can means 'I used to go' or 'she, he, it used to go'. As 'iba' has several meanings, it’s important to consider to context of the sentence to work out who it refers to.
Keywords
Imperfect - verb tense used to talk about something that used to happen repeatedly
Preterite - verb tense used to talk about something completed in the past
Past continuous - verb tense used to talk about what was happening
Cuando - word used to introduce relative clauses, meaning 'when'
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