The imperfect world...

Yes, we live in an imperfect world all right, and as this imperfect world chunders on, things happen. And things happen in the preterite.

The preterite seems to bob about in a sea of imperfection.



Which is a common feature of Spanish sentences.

Things happen ( in the Preterite) against a background of happenings in the Imperfect.

Y mientras andaban, Tigle le contó a Ruh todo sobre las cosas que peuden hacer los Tigles.

andaban is in the imperfect.... it's the background to the action, we don't know when the andabanning started or when it will finish.

contó is in the preterite... it's time is clearly defined as "while they were walking."

Y ahora que yo pensaba, empezó a acordarse de que no había visto mucho a Christopher robin últimamente.

The "empezó/preterite" takes place against the background "pensaba/imperfect."

When you are reading, you come across this pattern all the time, but unless you are actively watching the grammar, and asking yourself WHY each verb is the way it is, you will simply let it all flood past you and not learn anything.

I know we all want to get on with the story... so I recommend ( and I've mentioned this before) that AFTER you have read a page or so, go back and read it carefully... noting down all the stuff you whizzed through the first time.

Y cuanto más se alejaban, más espesa era la bruma, así que Tigle empezó a desaparecer....

The background happenings ( alejaban, era) are in the imperfect, and the thing that happens ( empezó) is in the preterite.



Dual-language books are really good for this type of grammar-spotting. All sorts of patterns like this can be picked up/reinforced when you have the English and Spanish side by side.

Reading the English side, you can think... hang on, this is going to be an imperfect background/preterite happening thingy... and glance over to the Spanish to see. And so on.

Grammar-spotting is do-able using any old rubbish.... but it's nice if it's a text you really love... these examples I just picked up from El Rincón de Puh... who could have guessed that.

You don't just have to wait for these ideas to pop up in your reading... you should make up your own, and say them out loud, and use them.

Here's Mäbu again with a live version of Tierra.... there's 2 Mabu's... this lot have an umlaut over the a... Mäbu and the other ones have an acute accent over the u ... Mabú .



here's a cleaner studio version...



...and here's the words, from musica.com

Mäbu - Tierra

Hoy la tierra anuncia que ha visto morir
Miles de inocentes viviendo la paz
Y a la vez rezándole a un mismo dios
Estar con los suyos en calma

Que somos polvo de estrellas sin más
Nos dieron la vida, nos dieron de más
Nos encanta el aire y disfrutamos del mar

Y disfrutamos de todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece
Todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece

Emperatriz en esta habitación
Más allá de aquí no soy nada
Y en contra toda indicación
Le he contado a el quien sea el que manda

Tanto vives como cuanto quieras dar
Siempre depende el recuerdo de los demás
Quiero beber del aire y disfrutar del mar

Y disfrutar de todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece
Todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece

Todo lo que tengo
Todo lo que tengo
Todo lo que tengo
Todo lo que tengo

Todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece

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Grammar-spotting... you know it makes sense!