摘要：In this work we propose an approach to the Spanish imperfect / preterit opposition based on Langacker's explanation of the English present as a tense which signals a situation as strictly simultaneous to the speaker's here and now. We argue that the Spanish imperfect, in its prototypical use, represents a situation as simultaneous to a secondary deictic point which is both epistemic and temporal in nature. The preterit, on the other hand, represents a process after its complete development. In our view, this approach explains (1) modal and terminative uses of the imperfect; (2) imperfect / present systematic distribution; and (3) present and past tenses correlations. We also deal with the pedagogical advantages of this descriptive position in Spanish as foreign language teaching.
