The Imperfect Tense: Other Uses

1. The Imperfect Tense:Other Uses P. 248 Realidades 2

2. Imperfect Tense: Other Uses • You already know how to use the imperfect tense together with the preterite to describe a situation that existed when something else happened. • Nadie estaba en la casa cuando los bomberos entraron.

3. Imperfect Tense: Other Uses • The imperfect tense may also be used: • To tell what time it was or what the weather was like when something happened. • Eran las cinco de la mañana y llovía mucho cuando el accidente occurió.

4. Imperfect Tense: Other Uses • To describe the physical, mental, and emotional states of a person or thing when something happened. • Muchas personas querían ayudar a la familia, pero no sabían que hacer.

5. Imperfect Tense: Other Uses • These verbs are often used in the imperfect to describe states of being:

6. Imperfect Tense: Other Uses • Estar (triste, contento, cansado) • Parecer (cansado, mal) • Pensar • Querer • Sentirse (bien, enfermo) • Tener (calor, frío, hambre, sed, sueño) • Saber*

7. Imperfect Tense: Other Uses • Había and hubo are forms of haber and both mean “there was, there were.” • Había is used to describe a situation that existed in the past, while hubo is used to say that an event took place.

8. Hubo vs. había When using hubo (preterite) or había (imperfect) know that they both translate to ‘there was or there were’. These forms are both the Usted form of the verb Haber. We do not need to use the plural forms of these verbs to say ‘there were’.

9. Había (there was/there were) When using había it will give us information about how people, places, animals, objects, etc. were or used to be in the past, for a period of time. It offers the context. For example, Había un accidente en la carretera 495. ‘There was an accident on 495.’-think about it in this way: An accident occurred at some point on 495 or an accident was occurring/happening on 495.

10. Había (there was, there were) When we think about the ‘accident’ we need to remember that the accident is not the most important part of my speech. It is only a reference to something else that I consider more important than the accident. In other words, this is the background information to my story. In fact, we have no idea for how long the accident was there. It just happens that when I was on 495, I saw that there was an accident.

11. Hubo (there was, there were) However, when I change to the preterite, the meaning changes: Hubo un accidente en la carretera 495. ‘There was an accident on 495.’-think of it as “An accident happened on 495” in other words, the accident began and ended already. Now the focus IS the accident. Normally after this sentence, I would provide more details, such as time, place, etc.

12. Hubo vs. había How do I know when to use one and not the other??? Hubo is more dramatic and more important than había. But don’t throw away había just yet….we can start a story, a great story with había. Take a look:

13. Había Había una vez una princesa que vivía en un palacio. Once upon a time there was a princess that lived in a palace. El semestre pasado no había muchos estudiantes en la clase de honores. Last semester there were not that many students in the honors class.

14. Hubo Ayer hubo una elección. Yesterday there was an election. Hubo dos huracanes el año pasado. There were two hurricanes last year. Hace dos años que hubo una conferencia de los tornados. Two years ago there was a conference on tornadoes.

15. Había vs. Hubo • Había mucho humo en el apartamento. • Hubo un terremoto ayer a las seis de la mañana.

16. Now it’s your turn to create some examples using había and hubo. Let’s create a story about a natural disaster that happened this past weekend here in Littleton. Pair up with one partner and imagine that one person is the reporter while the other person is a witness to something devastating that happened. Write at least 2 sentences with hubo and 2 with había.