THE IMPERFECT TENSE: REGULAR- IRREGULAR VERBS Avancemos 2 – Unidad 4

Preterite You have already learned to talk about the past using the preterite tense for actions that began and ended at a definite time.

Preterite Ana cantó en la fiesta anoche. Ana sang at the party last night. (Completed past action.)

Imperfect The imperfect tense is another way to talk about the past. We use it to describe actions without any indication of their beginning or end.

Imperfect Ana cantaba. Ana was singing. (No indication of beginning or end.)

Imperfect We use the imperfect to talk about actions that happened repeatedly in the past. In English we often say used to or would to express this idea.

Imperfect Generalmente caminaban mucho. Generally they would walk a lot.

Imperfect Jugaban con otros niños de la familia. They used to play with other children in the family.

Imperfect Expressions such as generalmente, a menudo, muchas veces, todos los días, siempre, and nunca can cue us to use the imperfect.

Imperfect Here are all the forms of -ar verbs in the imperfect. Notice the accent mark on the nosotros form.

CAMINAR (to walk) Yo caminaba Tú caminabas Él Ella caminaba Ud. Nos. caminábamos Vos. caminabais Ellos Ellas caminaban Uds.

Since the yo and the Ud./él/ella forms are the same, we often use the subject pronouns to avoid confusion. Imperfect

Lets do a few more verbs.

PATINAR (to skate) Yo patinaba Tú patinabas Él Ella patinaba Ud. Nos. patinábamos Vos. patinabais Ellos Ellas patinaban Uds.

USAR (to use) Yo usaba Tú usabas Él Ella usaba Ud. Nos. usábamos Vos. usabais Ellos Ellas usaban Uds.

JUGAR (to play) Yo jugaba Tú jugabas Él Ella jugaba Ud. Nos. jugábamos Vos. jugabais Ellos Ellas jugaban Uds.

Imperfect Now we will learn the -er/-ir verb endings in the imperfect tense.

COMER (to eat) Yo comía Tú comías Él Ella comía Ud. Nos. comíamos Vos. comáis Ellos Ellas comían Uds.

VIVIR (to live) Yo vivía Tú vivías Él Ella vivía Ud. Nos. vivíamos Vos. viváis Ellos Ellas vivían Uds.

The Imperfect There are three irregular verbs in the imperfect. The verbs IR, SER, and VER.

IR iba ibas iba íbamos ibais iban

SER era eras era éramos erais eran

VER veía veías veía veíamos veíais veían

The Imperfect The imperfect form of hay is había (there was/were, there used to be) Generalmente, no había muchos participantes en el campeonato.