Now that you know the main past tenses, it's time to combine them to tell stories. This is key to sounding natural in Spanish. We'll use different tenses for different jobs in a story.

To tell a simple story, we generally use two tenses. The imperfecto sets the scene and describes the background, like what was happening or what things were like. The indefinido tells us the main actions or events that happened.

For example, to say 'It was a rainy day, and I was at home', you're setting the scene. So you use the imperfecto: 'Era un día lluvioso y yo estaba en casa'. This is the background to your story.

Once the scene is set with the imperfecto, you use the indefinido for the main events that move the story forward. For example, 'De repente, sonó el teléfono' means 'Suddenly, the phone rang'. The ringing is a completed action.