Uso de los Tiempos Verbales en Español

To describe the setting and characters.

To express habitual actions in the past.

To move the story forward by narrating completed actions.

To indicate ongoing actions without a clear end.

Something that happened just one time in the past

A background event (describing the setting)

A past habitual event (happened many times)

Sudden, interrupting actions.

Specific, one-time events.

Descriptions of the setting, time, people, and feelings.

Actions that occurred at a precise moment.

"encendimos la luz" (we turned on the light)

"caminamos hasta la cocina" (we walked to the kitchen)

"tenía muy poca luz" (it had little light coming in)

"vimos al gato del vecino" (we saw the neighbor's cat)

Present tense

Future tense

Imperfecto

Pretérito