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Year 10 - Spanish

¿Qué estaba pasando? Imperfect continuous, preterite interruptions

My neighbourhood: conflictos

Unit Summary

This unit focuses on revisiting the imperfect tense. Pupils revisit imperfect forms of 'ir', 'ver', 'ser', -ar, -er, and -ir verbs. They use imperfect forms of 'estar' with a present participle for events in progress in the past, and use the preterite for interruptions.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use the imperfect continuous and preterite tenses in the context of a conflict.

Key Notes

  • The Spanish Civil War happened between 1936 and 1939. Franco became a dictator and ruled Spain until his death in 1975.
  • The imperfect continuous is for ongoing past actions; form it with the imperfect of 'estar' and the present participle.
  • In the imperfect continuous, reflexive pronouns can go before the 1st verb or be attached after the present participle.
  • The preterite tense is used to talk about events completed in the past.
  • When 'cuando' indicates an interruption to ongoing past actions, the preterite tense is generally used afterwards.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • imperfect continuous: verb tense used to talk about ongoing actions in the past, what 'was happening'
  • reflexive pronoun: used to indicate doing something to yourself, words like 'myself' and 'yourself'
  • preterite: verb tense used for events completed in the past

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • 'Estaba' only means 'I was' in the imperfect.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.

The Spanish Civil War happened between 1936 and 1939. Franco became a dictator and ruled Spain until his death in 1975. The imperfect continuous is for ongoing past actions; form it with the imperfect of 'estar' and the present participle.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'imperfect continuous'

verb tense used to talk about ongoing actions in the past, what 'was happening'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: 'Estaba' only means 'I was' in the imperfect. Correction: 'Estaba' means 'I was' but also 'she, he, it was' in the imperfect.

More Lessons In This Unit

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