Grammatica - loco

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11.2.2
11.2.2.1
Imperfect tense
Some confusion about when to use the imperfect arises because of the
common practice in Dutch of using the perfect where English uses the
imperfect (see Perfect Tense, 11.2.3). The real difficulty associated with
the use of the imperfect in Dutch is in recognizing the few occasions when
it cannot be replaced by the perfect. It is also particularly difficult to give
rules for when it must be used. Generally speaking it tends to be used for
narrating a series of events in the past. When mentioning isolated actions
or listing a sequence of separate actions in the past, the perfect tense is
normally preferred, however.
In the following example, the fact that a new topic is being introduced
into the conversation is announced by use of the perfect tense. If you then
proceed to give further detail, it is likely that you would then switch to
the imperfect to relate the further sequence of events:
Gisteren ben ik naar Amsterdam gegaan. Ik ging naar een
paar boekhandels, lunchte op de Damrak, bezocht het
Rijksmuseum en nam de trein om vier uur terug naar
Utrecht.
I went to Amsterdam yesterday. I visited a few bookshops, had lunch
on the Damrak, went to the National Museum and caught the train
back to Utrecht at 4.00.
The verbs zijn and hebben are more commonly used in the imperfect than
the perfect:
Wat had je in je hand?
What did you have in your hand?
Hoe was het weer die avond?
What was the weather like that night?
But the perfect would not be wrong in such cases.
In the following examples hebben and zijn indicate a permanent state
rather than an isolated action like zingen and doodgaan and thus they
must be in the imperfect:
Zij heeft langer gezongen dan hij en zij had ook een mooiere
stem.
She sang longer than he (did) and she had a nicer voice too.
Use of tenses
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