Transcript Uses of the Imperfect tense

The Imperfect tense
The Preterite tense is used to describe an event that took
place at a specific time in the past:
John went to Mexico last year.
We ate a large meal.
The Imperfect tense:
A. describes an action that was repeated, or took
place over a period of time [always, used to, usually, etc]
John visited (used to visit) Mexico every year.
We ate a large meal every Sunday.
Carlos always spent his vacations in Mexico.
but last summer he spent it in Puerto Rico.
On Saturdays I played tennis with Bob, but
last week I played tennis with Tom.
Generally, I got up early, but yesterday I got
up at 10:00
B. describes an action that took place over a
period of time:
I was in Spain for two months last year.
Ana spent three weeks in Argentina.
C.
describes someone or something in the past
(sets a scene):
Paula was not happy.
It was cold in the mountains.
She had blue eyes.
It was 2:00 when he arrived.