whats the diffence, i mean how do you know when it's prederit or imperfect? i don't get it and my teacher keeps on getting them mixed up at school

*This is straight out of my class notes.

Preterite
1. When talking about a complete action in the past.
Ex: Yo terminó mi tarea. I finished my homework.

2. A sudden action in the past.
Ex: La televisión rompió. The television broke.

3. A specific time.
Ex: Yo fui a mi casa a las once anoche. I went home at eleven o'clock last night.

Imperfect
1. To talk about a habitual action in the past (what you used to do).
Ex: Yo hablaba con mi amiga. I was talking with my friend.

2. When giving a description about something in the past.
Ex: Cuando era una niña, yo jugaba con mi amiga. When I was a young girl, I played with my friend.

3. Background information or telling the scene about something in the past.
Ex: La ciudad tenía muchas arboles. The city had / used to have many trees.

algunas correciones?^^

Preterite [in spanish, that'd be Pretérito]
1. When talking about a complete action in the past.
Ex: Yo terminó mi tarea. I finished my homework.x
Ex: Yo terminé mi tarea. I finished my fomework

2. A sudden action in the past.
Ex: La televisión rompió. The television broke.x
Ex: La televisión se rompió. The television broke

3. A specific time.
Ex: Yo fui a mi casa a las once anoche. I went home at eleven o'clock last night.x
Ex: Anoche fui/regresé[regresé = came back] a mi casa a las once de la noche. I went home at eleven o'clock last night.

Imperfect
1. To talk about a habitual action in the past (what you used to do).
Ex: Yo hablaba con mi amiga. I was talking with my friend. correct!^^

2. When giving a description about something in the past.
Ex: Cuando era una niña, yo jugaba con mi amiga. When I was a young girl, I played with my friend. correct!^^

3. Background information or telling the scene about something in the past.
Ex: La ciudad tenía muchas arboles. The city had / used to have many trees. x
Preterite
1. When talking about a complete action in the past.
Ex: Yo terminó mi tarea. I finished my homework.

2. A sudden action in the past.
Ex: La televisión rompió. The television broke.

3. A specific time.
Ex: Yo fui a mi casa a las once anoche. I went home at eleven o'clock last night.

Imperfect
1. To talk about a habitual action in the past (what you used to do).
Ex: Yo hablaba con mi amiga. I was talking with my friend.

2. When giving a description about something in the past.
Ex: Cuando era una niña, yo jugaba con mi amiga. When I was a young girl, I played with my friend.

3. Background information or telling the scene about something in the past.
Ex: La ciudad tenía muchas arboles. The city had / used to have many trees. x
Ex: La ciudad tenía muchos árboles. The city had / used to have many trees.

----
that's it^^ minor mistakes^^

midnight, you put the 'anoche' at the end of the sentence.. and i don't know.. maybe it's correct, but we usually put the 'anoche' at the beggining of the sentence, like, 'anoche fui a mi casa a las 11 ', and even that is kinda weird xD to make it more, em, normal.. it should be 'Anoche regresé a mi casa a las 11', but, you can say it otherwise^^

Thanks gaby! I'll keep that in mind.

It's so ironic...This week my teacher announceed we're going to review preterite and imperfect because we had presentations last week and a lot of people made mistakes.

we're having Spanish midterms next week, so this is a great, basic, unconfusing review. unlike my teacher's review.

my spanish teacher always danced along when she taught us...i guess i never forgot...but this is what she would relate preterite and imperfect to:

el preterito - a still photo. it happened; its done!
imperfecto - a video - an ongoing action...
i was doing this (imperfect) WHEN (preterit)

sigamos aprendiendo español!!

Esto es loco! Me choca la perderit and imperfect. Creo que la cosa que is mas importante es a ablaba. Porque quando placticas con otra gente le entendo si digo con la perderit o imperfect. Pues... es importante quando quieres fluent (no se como digo eso)
Perdon sobre mi Español yo solo aprendiendo para 5 mesas...

muy bien, pero...donde esta la profesora? Lo creo que ella esta desaparecido. Tambien, ¿Es cualquiera con soltura en español? Gracias

Que es soltura.. No se... y si donde esta la maestra? ella puede contestar eso.

PRETERITO:
~ a complete action
~ speciffic number of times

IMPERFECTO:
~ continual action
~ repeated action
~description

I got this from my class notes.