imperfecto
regular imperfect endings aba abas ábamos aban -er, -ir ía ías íamos ían
conjugating in the imperfect tense -ar verbs (yo) -aba (nosotros) -ábamos (nosotras) (tú) -abas (Ud) -aba (él) (ella) (Uds) -aban (ellos) (ellas)
conjugating in the imperfect tense -ar verbs (yo) bailaba (nosotros) (nosotras) bailábamos (tú) bailabas (Ud) (él) (ella) (Uds) (ellos) (ellas) bailaban
conjugating in the imperfect tense -er, -ir verbs (yo) -ía (nosotros) -íamos (nosotras) (tú) -ías (Ud) -ía (él) (ella) (Uds) -ían (ellos) (ellas)
conjugating in the imperfect tense -er verbs (yo) comía (nosotros) (nosotras) comíamos (tú) comías (Ud) (él) (ella) (Uds) (ellos) (ellas) comían
conjugating in the imperfect tense -ir verbs (yo) escribía (nosotros) (nosotras) escribíamos (tú) escribías (Ud) (él) (ella) (Uds) (ellos) (ellas) escribían
ver ir ser veía veíamos veías veían iba íbamos ibas iban era éramos conjugating in the imperfect tense irregular verbs there are only 3!!!! veía veíamos veías ver veían iba íbamos ibas ir iban era éramos eras ser eran
when do you use the imperfect? past actions without any indication of their beginning or end no reference to whether or not they were completed she was texting ella mandaba un mensaje text
when do you use the imperfect? actions that occurred regularly in the past a habitual or recurring action she used to text every day ella mandaba un mensaje text todos los días
when do you use the imperfect? give background information or tell what was going on when something else happened in the past it was raining (when he arrived) llovía (cuando llegó) i was studying (when you called) yo estudiaba (cuando llamaste)
when do you use the imperfect? describe an action that was in progress in the past something that was going on i was talking and you were reading yo hablaba y tú leías
when do you use the imperfect? tell time in the past it was two o’clock eran las dos
when do you use the imperfect? tell age in the past she was 5 years old ella tenía 5 años
when do you use the imperfect? to describe physical, mental, or emotional states in the past it was hot hacía calor I was hungry yo tenía hambre I didn’t want to go yo no quería ir she was pretty ella era bonita
when do you use the imperfect? when the focus is on the middle of an action in the past i was studying yesterday yo estudiaba ayer
when do you use the imperfect? summary… past action with no beginning or end action that occurred regularly in the past give background information in the past describe an action in progress in the past tell time in the past tell age in the past describe things in the past focus on middle of action in the past
following are some “tricks” that may or may not help you remember how to use the imperfect, write it all down, but use whatever helps you!
some tricks to help you remember Ten Monkeys Danced Really Poorly
some tricks to help you remember Telling time in the past Mental verbs, can’t see the action happening Description of the past Repeated/habitual action in the past Progressive action, something that was happening in the past
clues for the imperfect – if you see one of these words in a sentence you will most likely use the imperfect frecuentemente mientras los domingos los lunes por la noche cada día todos los días antes en el pasado algunas veces/a veces/de vez en cuando siempre por lo general/generalmente a menudo nunca
copy these examples and study them to know when to use the imperfect Maria y Juan se veían todos los martes. Yo quería ir a Puerto Rico. Yo tenía trece anos cuando fui a Nevada. Ella tenía calor en la casa. Nosotros charlábamos mientras ellos contaban chistes.
Remember… Always use the subject pronoun when using the imperfect tense. Why?