The Imperfect Tense: Regular Verbs Page 194 Realidades 2
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 leían mucho. Generally they would read 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/-er/-ir 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.
Imperfect Since the yo and the Ud./él/ella forms are the same, we often use the subject pronouns to avoid confusion.
COMER (to eat) Yo comía Tú comías Él Ella comía Ud. Nos. comíamos Vos. comáis Ellos Ellas comían Uds.
VIVIR (to live) Yo vivía Nos. vivíamos Tú vivías Vos. viváis Él Ellos Ella vivía Ud. Nos. vivíamos Vos. viváis Ellos Ellas vivían Uds.
Here are the irregular verbs
Ir (to go) iba íbamos ibas iba iban
Ser (to be) era éramos eras era eran
Ver (to see) veía veíamos veías veía veían