The Imperfect past tense in Spanish is one of the easiest tenses to conjugate; there are very few irregulars and no stem changers. But that doesn’t make this tense “easy” to use. Choosing when to use the imperfect past tense or the preterite past tense is often tricky.

In today’s lesson you’ll learn how to conjugate the imperfect tense and how to apply the DUWIT acronym to guide you in the contexts of when the imperfect tense is required.

Here is the lesson I taught for Video Viernes this week on the Imperfect Past Tense in Spanish:

When do you use the imperfect past tense vs the Preterite? Follow the DUWIT acronym to know imperfect past tense verb contexts:

D: Descriptions in the past

• No pude ver bien porque era muy oscuro

U: “Used to…” referring to habitual actions in the past that recurred:

• Ella fumaba mucho cuando era más joven.

W: “Was doing” actions in the past – often the preterite interrupts: 

• La familia hablaba y de repente sonó el teléfono.

I: Inside feelings to describe how someone was (vs what they did)

• Él estaba muy nervioso antes de hablar con el cirujano. Después de hablar con él, se sentía mucho mejor. 

T: Time, Weather & Age in the past

• Eran las 4 de la mañana. Llovía mucho. Ella tenía 10 años y estaba solita en la casa.

Regular imperfect past tense endings:

Practice your Imperfect past tense conjugations (answers at bottom of post):

1. La doctora __________ (llegar) a la clínica todos los días a las 6am.
2. Nosotros siempre __________ (comer) el desayuno juntos.
3. ¿ ____________ (estudiar) muchas horas cuando eras niño?
4. A menudo ellos __________ (recibir) los resultados muy rápido.
5. Yo __________ (tener) mucho dolor antes de la cirugía.
6. Él ___________ (padecer) de enfisema y diabetes antes de morir.

There are only 3 irregular Imperfect past tense verbs:

Más práctica (answers below):

1. Cuando yo ________ (ser) un niño, yo siempre ________ (ver) mucha tele. 
2. La enfermera ________ (ir) a ponerle un catéter pero la doctora le dijo que no.
3. El estudiante no ________ (ver) el monitor por eso cambió de posición.
4. La sala de espera en el hospital ________ (ser) muy loca porque pacientes ________ (ir) y ________ (venir) toda la noche.
5. Las obstetras ________ (ir) a una reunión que ________ (ser) en el piso 6 cuando llegaron 3 mujeres que ____________ (necesitar) cesáreas.

Learn imperfect past tense verbs with this Quizlet vocabulary set:

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Answers to practice activities:

Want more practice with past tenses in Spanish? Take the self-directed Medical Spanish past tenses course: