Preterite vs Imperfect: Talking About the Past
In Portuguese, the two main past tenses used to talk about the past are the 'pretérito perfeito' (preterite) and the 'pretérito imperfeito' (imperfect), both of the indicative mood.
The preterite and the imperfect tenses suggest different time flows that are not distinguished in many languages, and they are often translated into the same tense (normally the simple past tense) in English. Let’s take a look at the differences between them.
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Chovia quando eu saí. Which Portuguese past tense to use when, why English collapses both into one, and how the two work together in a single sentence.
Written for level B1. Every lesson has its own, anywhere from A1 to B2.
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