is sometimes accompanied by a time phrase such as entonces‘then’, en aquel tiempo
‘at that time’, en aquella época‘at that time’, etc. 17.3 (p. 74)
Recuerdo que aquel día hacía muchísimo frío.
I remember it was very cold that day.Javier estaba enfermo.
Javier was ill.En aquella época ella estaba en Granada.
At that time she was in Granada.
Yo vivía allí entonces.
I lived/used to live there then.Elena trabajaba en un hospital.
Elena worked/used to work in a hospital.In contrast with the preterite, the imperfect cannot refer to states or actions which took
place in a closed period of time, even when these may have been prolonged or repeated.
Compare the examples above with the following ones, which carry the preterite.
Hizo muchísimo frío todo el día.
It was very cold the whole day.Estuvo enfermo toda la semana.
He/she was ill the whole week.Estuvo en Granada varias veces.
He/she was in Granada several times.
Viví allí cinco años.
I lived there for five years.Elena trabajó allí desde 1990 a 1994.
Elena worked there from 1990 till 1994.17.4 (p. 75)
73.9 Talking about past habitual actions
73.9.1 The imperfect
To ask and give information about actions which occurred regularly in the past, over an
unspecified period, we use the imperfect. This will sometimes be accompanied by a
time phrase indicating frequency, for example todos los días‘everyday’, a menudo
‘often’, nunca‘never’, casi nunca‘almost never’, siempre‘always’, de vez en cuando
‘from time to time’, etc.Él venía aquí todos los días.
He used to come here everyday.Nos veíamos todas las semanas.
We used to see each other every week.Talking about past habitual actions 73.9