Imperfect

Usage

The imperfect is basically used in two time situations: 1) to convey actions that went on repeatedly over a period of time in the past, and 2) to describe what was happening at a specific moment of time in the past.

The first example is what the term used to conveys in English. The second is usually conveyed as a past continuous construction--was/were + -ing. Examples:

used to

I used to get up early when I was younger.
Me levantaba temprano cuando era más joven.

My mother always used to kiss me when I got home.
Mi madre siempre me besaba cuando llegaba a casa.

Notice in the examples that it is not always necessary to put 'used to' in the sentence, provided that the 'ongoing action' situation is understood by both speakers. Spanish uses the imperfect in both verbs.

was/were + -ing

In the present tense in English, we use the verb to be + -ing to express an activity that is going on at this very moment: we are eating. We simply put the verb 'to be' in the past to express an activity that was happening at a certain moment in the past: 'Last night at 9:15 we were eating.

In Spanish there are at least two ways you can express this idea:

Last night at 9:15 we were eating.
Anoche a las 9'15 estábamos comiendo.
Anoche a las 9'15 comíamos.

English speakers learning Spanish tend to latch onto the estábamos comiendo form, because it translates word for word and feels comfortable. This is fine except for the fact that native speakers will generally use the comíamos form to express the same idea, although there are no hard and fast rules about which is used when.

Form

-ar verb endings

-aba       -ábamos
-abas      -abais
-aba       -aban

example

hablaba       hablábamos
hablabas      hablabais
hablaba       hablaban

-er and -ir verb endings

-ía       -íamos
-ías      -íais
-ía       -ían

examples

comía       comíamos
comías      comíais
comía       comían

vivía       vivíamos
vivías      vivíais
vivía       vivían


Irregulars

There are only three irregular verbs in this tense: ser, ver and ir:

Ser
era       éramos
eras      eráis
era       eran

Ver
veía      veíamos
veías     veíais
veía      veían

Ir
iba       íbamos
ibas      ibais
iba       iban

Related Topics:

General Considerations about Verbs
Contents
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