Central America and southern South America), the second-person familiar singular pronoun is replaced by , which frequently requires its own characteristic verb forms, especially in the present indicative, where the endings are , , and for , , verbs, respectively. See "". In the tables of paradigms below, the (optional) subject pronouns appear in parentheses. Present indicative The present indicative is used to express actions or states of being in a present time frame. For example: (I am tall). (Subject pronoun not required and not routinely used.) (She sings in the club). (We all live in a yellow submarine). ([It] is ten thirty). Past tenses Spanish has a number of verb tenses used to express actions or states of being in a past time frame. The two that are "simple" in form (formed with a single word, rather than being compound verbs) are the preterite and the imperfect. Preterite The preterite is used to express actions or events that took place in the past, and which were instantaneous or are viewed as completed. For example: (She died yesterday) (Pablo turned the lights off) (I ate the rice) (You had your hair cut, Lit. "You cut yourself the hair") Note that (1) for and verbs (but not ), the first-person plural form is the same as that of the present indicative; and (2) and verbs share the same set of endings. Imperfect or "copretérito" The imperfect expresses actions or states that are viewed as ongoing in the past. For example: (I was/used to be funny in the past). (You ate a lot – literally, this sentence is saying "You used to eat a lot", saying that in the past, the person being referred to had a characteristic of "eating a lot"). (They were listening to the radio). All three of the sentences above describe "non-instantaneous" actions that are viewed as continuing in the past. The characteristic in the first sentence and the action in the second were continuous, not instantaneous occurrences. In the third sentence, the speaker focuses on the action in progress, not on its beginning or end. Note that (1) for all verbs in the imperfect, the first- and third-person singular share the same form; and (2) and verbs share the same set of endings. Using preterite and imperfect together The preterite and the imperfect can be combined in the same sentence to express the occurrence of an event