Conjugating Regular Imperfect Verbs: Focusing on a period of time in the past
Review: steps to conjugating (2 steps) 1. Find the stem of the verb 2. Add the correct *ending for each subject. *Note: in Spanish, each subject has a specific ending for verbs, called a subject ending, of course.
Finding the stem We find the stem by removing the –ar, –er, or –ir endings for the verb. Verb Stem Examples: hablar habl- correr corr- vivir viv-
Subject endings The endings assigned to each subject will depend on the tense of the verb and whether the verb has an –ar, –er, or –ir ending. Let’s look at the endings for the –ar verbs first.
Endings for –ar verbs Subject Ending Yo -aba Tú -abas él/ella/usted -aba Nosotros -ábamos Vosotros -abais ellos/ellas/ustedes -aban
Endings for –er and –ir verbs Subject Ending Yo -ía Tú -ías él/ella/usted -ía Nosotros -íamos Vosotros -íais ellos/ellas/ustedes -ían
Examples of conjugating Hablar (to speak) 1. The stem for hablar is “habl-” 2. Then we add the correct subject ending. Let’s use the subject “yo” as an example. The –ar ending for “yo” is –aba. We then add to the stem habl- to get: Yo habl aba. (“I was speaking.” Or “I used to speak.”)
Examples of conjugating Correr (to run) 1. The stem for correr is “corr-” 2. Then we add the correct subject ending. Let’s use the subject “tú” as an example. The –er ending for “tú” is –ías. We then add to the stem corr- to get: Tú corr ías. (“You used to run.” or “You were running.”)
Examples of conjugating Vivir (to live) 1. The stem for vivir is “viv-” 2. Then we add the correct subject ending. Let’s use the subject “ellos” as an example. The –ir ending for “ellos” is –ían. We then add to the stem viv- to get: Ellos viv ían. (“They used to live.” or “They were living.”)
Three irregular imperfect verbs Subject ir ser *ver Yo iba era veía Tú ibas eras veías él/ella/ud. iba era veía Nosotros íbamos éramos veíamos Vosotros ibais erais veíais ellos/ellas/uds. iban eran veían
Ver – in the imperfect tense Is not really an irregular verb in the imperfect tense Comes from the verb veer When we use the stem for veer, ve-, we see that veer follows the regular conjugation rules for the imperfect tense -Example: Yo veía