Imperfect Tense

  1. Home
  2. Imperfect Conjugations

Introduction

The Imperfect tense is the second of the two past tenses, with its partner being the preterite. However, this one is so much more simpler. It has only THREE irregulars, and the regular conjugations are straightfoward.

Conjugating Regularly in the Imperfect

The process is so simple, you can do it in two steps. All you do is remove the endings, and add the following phrases according to what type of word the verb is:

AR Verbs

aba ábamos
abas abais
aba aban

ER/IR Verbs

ía íamos
ías íais
ía ían
Examples

Hablar --> Habl --> Hablabas

Tener --> Ten --> Tenía

Escribir --> Escrib --> Escribíamos

Irregulars in the Imperfect

There are only THREE irregulars! Here they are:

Ser
era éramos
eras erais
era eran
Ir
iba íbamos
ibas ibais
iba iban
Ver
veía veíamos
veías veíais
veía veían

Imperfect vs Preterite

When to use the two past tenses.

Imperfect
  1. Express habital actions/actions that always occured in the past.
    • E.g. I always played soccer as a kid.
  2. Describe physical/emotional states or characteristics in the past.
    • E.g. The doctor's office was blue.
  3. Describe actions that were in progress in the past.
    • E.g. I was running
  4. Age and Time
Preterite
  1. Express the beginning or end of actions in the past
    • E.g. He ate the food yesterday
  2. Express actions that are viewed by the speaker as completed
  3. Narrate a series of actions in the past

Common phrase: Ongoing Action + Interruption

This is a very common phrase in Spanish: An ongoing action that is interrrupted by another action in the past

  • Example: She was running when her friends called her.
  • Translation: Ella corría cuando su amiga le llamaron
  • The ongoing action is an action that was in progress in the past, and thus requires the imperfect
  • The interrupted action is completed in the past, and thus requires preterite


Practice! No punctuation.
Note: If the answer ends with an accented letter, click space, then backspace/delete to see if answer is correct.