Juan (1) [estaba] (estar) estudiando cuando Marta (2) [entró] (entrar) en su cuarto. Le (3) [preguntó] (preguntar) a Juan si (4) [quería] (querer) ir al cine. Juan le (5) [dijo] (decir) que sí, porque (6) [se sentía] (sentirse) un poco aburrido con los estudios. Los dos (7) [salieron] (salir) enseguida para el cine. (8) [Vieron] (ver) una película cómica y (9) [se rieron] (reírse) mucho. Luego, como (10) [hacía] (hacer) frío, (11) [entraron] (entrar) en su café favorito, La Cocina Mexicana, para el plato del día. (12) [Eran] (ser) las dos de la mañana cuando por fin (13) [regresaron] (regresar) a casa. Marta (14) [se acostó] (acostarse) inmediatamente porque (15) [estaba] (estar) muy cansada, pero Juan (16) [decidió] (decidir) estudiar una hora más.

1. Imp: The past progressive calls for imperfect tense most of the time.
2. Pret: She entered in once, and she interrupted Juan's studying.
3. Pret: She asked once.
4. Imp: "... if he wanted..." (See the second part of 8.2 for the meaning of "querer" in the preterite.)
5. Pret: He said yes once.
6. Imp: emotional state or condition, talking about how he felt
7. Pret: (applies to 7 through 9) This is a series of events or actions which move the story along. These tend to be in the preterite. "They did this, then this, and then this."
8. Pret: (see #7)
9. Pret: (see #7)
10. Imp: weather or background description
11. Pret: entered in once.
12. Imp: Says what time it was in the past. This is automatically a background description.
13. Pret: They returned once.
14. Pret: The key word is "inmediatamente." She goes to bed once.
15. Imp: physical condition
16. Pret: He decided once.