How do you form the imperfect past tense and what is the difference between the preterite and the imperfect tense?

The imperfect past tense is formed with the endings:AR verbs Yo - abatú - abasel/ella - aba nosotros - abamos vosotros - abais ellos/ellas - aban ER and IR verbs yo - ía tú - ías el/ella - ía nosotros - íamos vosotros - íais ellos/ellas - ían the difference is that the imperfect tense is used for events long ago, something you used to do perhaps, and without a specific date. Typically, when referring to the recent past and something that happened on a specific date, ayer (yesterday) for example you will use the preterite. Could you tell me the endings for the preterite tense?