Aprender
el Imperfecto
The
imperfect tense is used to talk about a past action or state of
being without specifying when it began or ended. It is often equivalent
to "was ___-ing" in English. The Spanish imperfect can also express
repeated actions in the past - equivalent to "used to" in English.
| ¿Dónde
estabas ayer? |
Where were you yesterday? |
| Quería ir al cine. |
I wanted to go to the movies. |
| Ella leía el
periódico. |
She was reading the newspaper. |
| ¿Partíais? |
Were you leaving? |
| No tenían tiempo de
estudiar. |
They didn't have time to study. |
| ¿Llovía
anoche? |
Did it rain last night? |
| Bailábamos todos los
días. |
We used to dance every day. |
AR Verbs: Imperfect Tense
The imperfecto is
relatively easy, because all regular and all but three irregular
Spanish verbs are conjugated with the standard root (found by dropping
the infinitive) plus the appropriate endings.
Note that the yo and él forms are identical; if the context
leaves ambiguity as to which person was doing the action, be sure to
use the pronoun.
STEM +
| yo |
-aba |
| tú |
-abas |
| él /ella/ usted |
-aba |
| nosotros |
-abamos |
| vosotros |
-abais |
| ellos/ llas/ustedes |
-aban |
|
-AR verb example:
| Hablar - to talk |
| yo |
hablaba |
nosotros |
hablabamos |
| tú |
hablabas |
vosotros |
hablabais |
| él |
hablaba |
ellos |
hablaban |
|
ER and IR
Verbs: Imperfect
Tense
For the Spanish
Imperfect tense of the
'ER' and 'IR' families of
Spanish verbs, the ‘-ER’and '-IR' words take the STEM
and add some new endings. Keep in mind that the ending patterns
are different in the Spanish Imperfect tense for ER and IR verbs when
compared to AR verbs.
STEM +
| yo |
-ía |
| tú |
-ías |
| él /ella/ usted |
-ía |
| nosotros |
-íamos |
| vosotros |
-íais |
| ellos/ llas/ustedes |
-ían |
|
-ER verb example:
| Comer - to eat |
| yo |
comía |
nosotros |
comíamos |
| tú |
comías |
vosotros |
comíais |
| él |
comía |
ellos |
comían |
|
-IR verb example:
| Vivir - to live |
| yo |
vivía |
nosotros |
vivíamos |
| tú |
vivías |
vosotros |
vivíais |
| él |
vivía |
ellos |
vivían |
|
Irregular
Verbs: Imperfect Tense
Fortunately,
ir, ser, and ver are the only irregular verbs in the imperfecto.
| IR
– (to go) Irregular in Imperfect Tense |
| iba |
íbamos |
| ibas |
ibais |
| iba |
iban |
|
| SER
– (to be) Irregular in Imperfect Tense |
| era |
éramos |
| eras |
erais |
| era |
eran |
|
| VER - (to see) Irregular
in Imperfect Tense |
| veía |
veíamos |
| veías |
veíais |
| veía |
veían |
|