THE IMPERFECT TENSE The imperfect tense in Spanish is used to describe things that used to happen places,objects and people (in the past) give background.

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

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2 THE IMPERFECT TENSE

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

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

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—to be (P) ERA ERAS ERA ÉRAMOS ERAIS ERAN IR—to go IBA IBAS IBA ÍBAMOS IBAIS IBAN VER—to see VEÍA VEÍAS VEÍA VEÍAMOS VEÍAIS VEÍAN

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 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 that is secondary to the main action (in the past) 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.