Quasimodo: Get playing the verb conjugation tic-tac-toe with your 9 o’clock partner

Translating the imperfect: The imperfect in Spanish covers several different types of meanings in the English with just one verb. This can make translations a bit difficult. You’ll find that the translations depend very much on context and sometimes there isn’t just one right answer.

Translating the imperfect: Yo dormía… could be translated as: I slept… Yo dormía mucho cuando era niño. I slept a lot when I was a child. I would sleep… Yo dormía en la cama de mi hermana a veces. I would sleep in my sister’s bed sometimes. I was sleeping… Yo dormía cuando mi hermano llegó. I was sleeping when my brother arrived.

Translating the imperfect: Ellos cantaban… could be translated as: They sang… Ellos cantaban todos los días. They sang every day. They would sing… Ellos cantaban al principio de cada clase. They would sing at the beginning of every class. They were singing… Ellos cantaban mientras el profesor escuchaba. They were singing while the teacher was listening.

Translating the imperfect: Nosotros comíamos could be translated as: We ate… Nosotros comíamos mucho pescado cada verano. We ate a lot of fish every summer. We would eat… Nosotros comíamos manzanas después de escuela muchas veces. We would eat apples after school often. We were eating… Ella salió mientras nosotros comíamos. She left while we were eating.

Imperfect sentence translation: Because of these variations it is important when translating from Spanish to English to pay attention to context and pick the best option given that context. Also, when translating from English to Spanish it is important to focus on what the sentence is saying, rather than trying to complicate things more than necessary through word for word translations.

Práctica: Son las seis 1. Ella cantaba mucho cuando era niña. She sang a lot when she was a child. / She would sing a lot when she was a child. 2. Mientras yo practicaba el piano, mis hermanos jugaban en el parque. While I was practicing the piano, my brothers were playing in the park. / While I practiced piano, my brothers played in the park. 5. He was tall. Él era alto. 6. She ran every day. Ella corría todos los días. / Ella corría cada día. 7. When I was a child, I played soccer. Cuando era niño/a, yo jugaba al fútbol. 8. Sometimes we would eat apples after school. A veces nosotros comíamos manzanas después de escuela.