THE IMPERFECT TENSE describe things that used to happen describe places,objects and people (in the past) give background description that is secondary.

Presentación del tema: "THE IMPERFECT TENSE describe things that used to happen describe places,objects and people (in the past) give background description that is secondary."— Transcripción de la presentación:

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2 THE IMPERFECT TENSE

3 describe things that used to happen describe places,objects and people (in the past) give background description that is secondary to the main action. The imperfect tense in Spanish is used to:

4 It is formed by taking the stem of the infinitive and adding the endings as follows e.g. hablar Yo hablaba Tú hablabas Él/ella/usted hablaba Nosotros hablábamos Vosotros hablabais Ellos/ellas/ustedes hablaban AR Verbs

5 ER Verbs E.g. comer Yo comía Tú comías Él/ella/usted comía Nosotros comíamos Vosotros comíais Ellos/ellas/ustedes comían

6 E.g. vivir Yo vivía Tú vivías Él/ella/usted vivía Nosotros vivíamos Vosotros vivíais Ellos/ellas/ustedes vivían IR Verbs

7 Guess the good news?

8 There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect!

9 SER Era Éramos Eras Erais Era Eran IR Iba Íbamos Ibas Ibais Iba Iban VER Veía Veíamos Veías Veíais Veía Veían 3 Irregulars

10 The imperfect The preterite The imperfect sets the scene in the past and the preterite ‘crashes’into it, with a single action.

11 Things that used to happen Cuando era joven me gustaba ir al parque todos los días. When I was young I used to like going to the park every day.

12 Describing places,objects and people (in the past) La chica era alta,tenía el pelo largo y llevaba gafas The girl was tall, had long hair and wore glasses

13 Background description = Imperfect main action (in the past) = Preterite Eran las doce de la noche. Hacía viento y llovía. El asesino entró en la casa con una pistola. It was midnight. It was windy and it was raining. The murderer entered the house with a pistol.