The pretérito indefinido (simple past) is used for completed actions in the past that took place once and/or interrupted an action that was already taking place. "Habló contigo" The pretérito imperfecto (past continuous form) emphasises the progression or the regular repetition of an action that took place in the past. "Hablaba contigo"

Yes, you're right. Habló is used when the action happens recently and hablaba when it happens in much time. (Sorry for my bad english)

The verb "habló" is the perfect past (or "simple past") of "hablar" and "hablaba" is the imperfect past. The perfect past is used in the next situations: 1) Actions ocurred short time ago. - Rompí una ventana = I broke a window - Ya rompí la ventana = I broke the window already 2) Actions made in a specific moment, at a point in time (here you say "when"). - Cuando era chico rompí una ventana = When I was child I broke a window - La semana pasada rompí una ventana = The last week I broke a window 3) Events of a story. - Frodo rompió la ventana y Gandalf se enojó = Frodo broke the window and Gandalf got angry The imperfect past is used in the next situations: 1) Habits or actions performed repeatedly. - Cuando era chico, rompía muchas ventanas = When I was child I broke many windows 2) When you say "what were you doing?" the verb "estar" is written in this form. - ¿Qué estabas haciendo? = What were you doing? - Estaba rompiendo una ventana = I was breaking a window That's all.