Uses of the imperfect past tense in Spanish
The imperfect tense in Spanish is a past tense used to describe repeated or habitual actions that have no reference to a beginning or an end.
Cuando era niña, me gustaba jugar con mis hermanas.
- When I was young, I liked to play with my sisters.
Rudolfo leía todos los días.
- Rudolfo read every day.
It is also used to describe events or actions that were in progress.
Mario cocinaba mientras Tania le leía la receta.
- Mario was cooking while Tania was reading him the recipe.
Estábamos en la casa.
- We were in the house.
The imperfect is also used to describe characteristics and states (or conditions) in the past with no reference to a beginning or an end.
Tenía muchos amigos.
- I had a lot of friends.
Ellos estaban enfermos.
- They were sick.
Conjugations of the imperfect tense in Spanish
Regular verbs – To conjugate the imperfect tense, remove the infinitive ending and add the following endings.
-ar |
-er |
-ir |
|||
| buscar (to look for) | comer (to eat) | escribir (to write) | |||
| busc aba | busc ábamos | com ía | com íamos | escrib ía | escrib íamos |
| busc abas | busc abais | com ías | com íais | escrib ías | escrib íais |
| busc aba | busc aban | com ía | com ían | escrib ía | escrib ían |
Irregular imperfect tense verbs in Spanish- There are only three irregular conjugations in the imperfect.
| ir (to go) | ser (to be) | ver (to see) | |||
| iba | íbamos | era | éramos | veía | veíamos |
| ibas | ibais | eras | erais | veías | veíais |
| iba | iban | era | eran | veía | veían |