i’m not sure if you’ve already made a post on this but i was wondering if you could give some examples of things you’ve noticed about imperfect vs. preterite and when they’re used. cause i’ve learned the rules on when to use them but i still find myself in situations where i don’t know which to use cause it feels so ambiguous

In general, without context, it is ambiguous for Spanish because in most cases both are valid but they mean different things

The imperfect tense is the one that's harder to understand for English speakers, but it's used for actions that have not yet been completed or actions that don't have a clear ending. The term "imperfect" means "not yet completed" in Spanish [as opposed to the "perfect" tenses in Spanish where they mean "past" or "completed"]

This can be confusing in some contexts, but the idea is that the imperfect is narrative and I try to translate it as continuous past "was doing" something, because that makes a clearer distinction for me personally. Preterite is just simple past

Imperfect tense in this particular sense seems to indicate a setup for something. It's narration or description, but it's not a specific action. We don't know exactly when it ends, though it did happen in the past and may still be continuing.

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The other way that imperfect is used is to mean "used to". This can be done with the modal verb soler as well and it would mean the same thing, but imperfect does carry the meaning of "used to"

These are cases when you're describing an action that would happen at some point, or would happen multiple times. Describing a past tendency really:

It depends on your context, because iba a la playa could just be regular narration to describe when something happens. OR it could be that "used to" idea. When you're being emphatic about it, you're likely to see solía ir a la playa "I used to go to the beach" which is all it could mean

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Preterite on the other hand is simple past. Some places even use the present perfect tense in its place

This is usually the one used when you're thinking or talking about specific moments and instances, not tendencies or patterns of behavior

For that reason, éramos amigos "we used to be friends" is more common than fuimos amigos "we were friends" but fuimos amigos isn't necessarily wrong

There are a handful of time phrases that indicate preterite, though sometimes it's flexible. These are especially important to keep in mind with weather, personality traits, and other cases where you would tend to use imperfect but can now use preterite:

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Other helpful tips:

First I’d say is that you sort of have to figure out if it’s a time phrase or not. It can be difficult because there are times when we’d think it would be past tense because it’s “over”, but try and figure out if it’s a time phrase / specific event, or if it’s a past continuous action:

Past continuous actions can be harder to spot, but try to think of them as descriptions, while preterite is firmly an action that would interrupt a description:

Be especially mindful of strange verbs like tener where the meanings might change. Normally, preterite tener carries the meaning of “had” as in “obtained” or “got”, so it’s often imperfect that you want... But tener has different expressions where the meaning could be different than regular “have”:

Also with preterite be aware of an implied memory or event. These can be harder to recognize, but they show up when someone is talking about a specific thing in context or they want information about a specific event:

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In general, descriptions, personalities, moods, and states of being are frequently done in imperfect. They tend to be things that equate to narration.

Preterite is normally more for action or things that interrupt narrative language

In that way you’ll typically see imperfect used to set the scene, while preterite typically serves as the action that interrupts that narration. It’s especially prevalent in literature to see it that way.

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Something else important is that there are also a handful of verbs where depending on imperfect or preterite the verb will change meaning... Or acquire a different meaning that you don't really think about in English, I should say.

***These verbs are poder, no poder, querer, no querer, conocer, saber, tener, and haber ... if you need more info on those, let me know. They’re just a bigger topic by themselves and I already ramble on and on as it is.

You'll want to pay close attention to ser, estar, tener, ir, dar, ver, hacer, and andar in past tense just in general because they’re the weird ones.

ser, estar, and tener are more typically imperfect, but can be preterite in the right cases

Be aware: