If I’m talking about Holidays and weather in the past, do I use preterite or imperfect?

If I’m talking about Holidays and weather in the past, do I use preterite or imperfect?

Also, what is the difference between the two? When do i use on or the other?

I have no idea, but try an online dictionary and/or thesaurus. Good luck!!

Written by rob on November 28th, 2009 with 2 comments.
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#1. November 28th, 2009, at 10:53 AM.

I have no idea, but try an online dictionary and/or thesaurus. Good luck!!
References :

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Lprod
#2. November 28th, 2009, at 11:23 AM.

Preterite (or simple past) is used for a completed action in the past. You’d use it if you want to talk about something that took place and ended in the past: 2 hours ago, last weekend/year, etc.

Imperfect (we call it "antepasado / antepreterito") is used to describe something that used to happen on a regular basis, or that happened in the very recent past but isn’t finished or over yet: then you could use it with expressions such as always, often, never.

So it depends on what kind of holiday you want to describe…. details of your very last trip?? You’d need to use preterite for most of the sentences: Yo fui a ___ (I went to___), el vuelo duró 6 horas (the flight lasted 6 hours), hice una excursion a las piramides (I made an excursion to the pyramids), tomé muchas fotografias (I made a lot of pics)…………… all of it started and ended in the past. The only thing I can think of where you could use imperfect is: Hacía mucho calor (the weather was very hot / it was very hot).

Let’s say that as a kid you used to go to Disneyland every time you were on vacations…. then you’d probably use imperfect: nosotros ibamos a Disneyland 2 veces al año (we used to go to Disneyland twice a year), nos hospedábamos en un hotel muy grande (we used to stay at a very big hotel), rentábamos un auto (we used to rent a car)……………..

Hope that’s clear.
References :
Native speaker

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