Verbs of Mental Processes
Since verbs indicating a mental process usually take
place over a period of time, they usually are expressed
in the Imperfect tense when talking about the past. The
most common verbs of this type are:
creer
to believe
querer
to want/wish
preferir
to prefer
saber
to know
desear
to want
pensar
to think
poder
to be able
tener ganas de …
to feel like . . .
Yo creía que Elena me dijo la verdad.
I believed that Elena told me the truth.
Luisa tenía ganas de ir al cine.
Luisa felt like going to the movies.
Nuestros padres sabían lo que hicimos.
Our parents knew what we did.
**Remember that saber has a different meaning in the
Preterite tense!
Nuestros padres supieron lo que hicimos.
Our parents found out what we did.