What's the difference between the Imperfecto and Indefinitivo tenses?

Both Imperfecto and Indefinitivo are past tenses.

Imperfecto is a tense used to describe states, emotions, circumstances, settings - it implies that the action has not been finite in the past. For example: It was 7 o'clock = Eran las siete. 

Indefinitivo on the other hand, is a tense used to describe finite actions in the past, they were concluded in the past. This tense does not imply any duration of the action at hand in the past. For example: At 7 pm I finally arrived home = A las siete por la tarde por fin llegué a casa. 

KJ
Answered by Karolina J. Spanish tutor

3994 Views

See similar Spanish IB tutors

Related Spanish IB answers

All answers ▸

What is the genre of Lorca's "The house of Bernarda Alba"


Think of adequate sentences using the Subjunctive tense with the following connectictives


How important is it to include subjunctive phrases where possible in Spanish prose and why?


How do I improve my accent and get more confident when speaking?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning