To use the past imperfect tense, you need to think about a continuous action that happened for a period of time (although the period of time is not defined). You need to get the feeling of an ongoing action, rather than an action in a specific point in time. In the beginning, it might seem hard to get your head around this way of thinking, but with many examples and practice, you will get it. This is the point where you need to start reading a lot in Spanish, to get used to the flow of the language and the uses of the tenses.
USES OF THE IMPERFECT TENSE IN SPANISH
We use the imperfect to talk about actions that were repetitive in the past:
- When I was little I played football every weekend (Cuando era pequeño jugaba fútbol todos los días)
To talk about things that used to happen in the past
- I used to wake up very early every day (Me despertaba muy temprano todos los días)
- When I was working there I would work up to 12 hours a day (Cuando trabajaba allí, trabajaba hasta 12 horas al día)
We use the imperfect to do descriptions in the past
- My house was big and had white walls (Mi casa era grande y tenía paredes blancas)
To describe a scene from the past where the story is taking place.
- When I went to the park it was warm and sunny (Cuando fui al parque, hacía calor y sol)
To talk about actions in the past that have an indeterminate duration
- My mom wanted to go to the party (Mi mamá quería ir a la fiesta)
To talk about actions/situations that were happening when something else happened (together with the preterite)
- I was watching TV (imperfect) when you called (preterite) / (Estaba viendo televisión (imperfecto) cuando llamaste (pretérito)
CUES: These words will help you identify the imperfect:
- Todos los (días, meses, años)
- Cuando…. (in sentences like –> when I was little, when you were young, when she was 5, when I was a student, when I was living in London etc)
- Antes…
- Hace tiempo…
- Siempre…
- A veces…
- Nunca…
- Mientras…
- Poco a poco…
- Como…
CONJUGATION PAST IMPERFECT IN SPANISH
As usual, we take the 3 groups of verbs and learn the endings for each:
AR Verbs
We drop the AR and add the endings. Example verb HABLAR
- Yo habl-aba
- Tú habl-abas
- Usted habl-aba
- Él habl-aba
- Ella habl-aba
- Nosotros habl-abamos
- Ustedes habl-aban
- Ellos habl-aban
- Ellas habl-aban
ER Verbs
We drop the ER and add the endings. Example verb COMER
- Yo com-ía
- Tú com-ías
- Usted com-ía
- Él com-ía
- Ella com-ía
- Nosotros com-íamos
- Ustedes com-ían
- Ellos com-ían
- Ellas com-ían
IR Verbs
We drop the IR and add the endings. Example verb VIVIR
- Yo viv-ía
- Tú viv-ías
- Usted viv-ía
- Él viv-ía
- Ella viv-ía
- Nosotros viv-íamos
- Ustedes viv-ían
- Ellos viv-ían
- Ellas viv-ían
IRREGULAR VERBS IN THE IMPERFECT TENSE
We only have 3 irregular verbs in this tense, which is great news after all the irregulars in the preterite.
SER
- Yo era
- Tú eras
- Usted era
- Él era
- Ella era
- Nosotros éramos
- Ustedes eran
- Ellos eran
- Ellas eran
IR
- Yo iba
- Tú ibas
- Usted iba
- Él iba
- Ella iba
- Nosotros íbamos
- Ustedes iban
- Ellos iban
- Ellas iban
VER
- Yo veía
- Tú veías
- Usted veía
- Él veía
- Ella veía
- Nosotros veíamos
- Ustedes veían
- Ellos veían
- Ellas veían
SUMMARY
The regular verbs
The irregular verbs
EXAMPLE PAST IMPERFECT IN SPANISH
Cuando éramos pequeños, mis hermanos y yo íbamos al parque todos los días, jugábamos fútbol con nuestros amigos y disfrutábamos la vida. Yo era el mejor jugador de mi equipo y quería ser jugador de futbol profesional, entrenaba todos los días después de la escuela y me gustaba mucho. Los fines de semana tenía que levantarme temprano para los partidos con otros equipos. Después de los partidos, visitaba a mi abuela, ella siempre me cocinaba mi plato favorito y me contaba diferentes historias de su vida.
When we were little, my brothers and I used to go to the park every day, we played football with our friends and enjoyed life. I was the best player on my team and I wanted to be a professional soccer player. I would train every day after school and I liked it a lot. On weekends I had to get up early for games with other teams. After the games, I used to visit my grandmother, she always cooked my favorite dish and told me different stories of her life.
Take a lesson about the PAST TENSE IN SPANISH
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PRACTICE
- Nosotros (comer) en el mismo restaurante todos los fines de semana
- Mis amigos (salir) todos los viernes
- Mi abuela (vender) fruta en el supermercado
- En Cartagena (hacer) sol todos los días
- Ustedes (vivir) en Bogotá
- Mi ex -novio (tener) los ojos azules
- Ellos (limpiar) la casa los fines de semana
- Todas las noches Lucas (cocinar) la cena
- Mis hermanos siempre me (pedir) dinero
- Mi primo y yo (subir) las escaleras todas las mañanas
- Antes yo (preferir) jugar al baloncesto
- Mi amiga (beber) té en vez de café
Answers: comíamos, salían, vivían, tenía, limpiaban, cocinaba, pedían, subíamos, prefería, bebía