El Imperfecto When referring to the past, there are two verb tenses in Spanish. They are used depending on the type of events and actions being described. You already learned preterit now you will learned the Imperfect verbs
El Imperfecto Yo aba Yo ía tú abas Tú ías él/ ella/ usted aba To express habitual, repeated*, ongoing actions/events in the past. To describe a person, place thing, time, age, feelings, weather, setting or background of an event in the past. “used to…” “would…” or “was verb+ing verb” Regular endings Yo ía Tú ías él/ ella/ usted ía Nosotros íamos Ellos/ ellas/ustedes ían Yo aba tú abas él/ ella/ usted aba Nosotros ábamos Ellos/ ellas/ustedes aban
El Imperfecto -AR endings ER /IR endings Yo -aba Yo -ía Tú -abas Él -aba Nosotros -ábamos Vosotros -abáis Ellos -aban Yo -ía Tú -ías Él - ía Nosotros - íamos Vosotros - íais Ellos - ían
El Imperfecto- irregulares SER Yo era I was, used to (would) be Tú eras You were, used to(would) be Él era He was,used to(would) be Nosotros éramos We were, used to (would) be Vosotros erais You all were, all used to(would)be Ellos eran They were, used to (would) be
Formas del Imperfecto de IR Yo iba I was going I used to go Tú ibas You were going You used to go Él iba He was going He used to go Nosotros íbamos We were going We used to go Vosotros ibais You all were going You all used to go Ellos iban They were going They used to go
El Imperfecto Yo veía I was seeing/ I used to see VER Yo veía I was seeing/ I used to see Tú veías You were seeing/ You used to see Él veía He was seeing/ He used to see Nosotros veíamos We were seeing/ used to see Vosotros veíais You all were seeing/ used to see Ellos veían They were seeing/ used to see
Let’s review: El Pretérito The Preterit is used… To describe specific completed actions that occurred at ac point in time or during a certain period of time. It describes what happened, what occurred. (generally –ed ending verbs in English or verbs like went, spent, bought, fell, swam, scuba dove) EX. El año pasado mis padres pasaron las vacaciones en Colombia. Last year my parents spent their vacation in colombia. Ana se resbaló, se cayó y se torció el tobillo. Ana slipped, fell and twisted her ankle.
El Imperfecto The imperfect is used: To express habitual, repeated*, ongoing actions/events in the past. (*actions repeated an undetermined # of times) To describe the background of a main action in the past regarding: time, weather, age, physical appearance, feelings, beliefs and emotional states Gives the idea of “used to…” “would…” or “was verb+ing verb” in English.
El Imperfecto Yo llamaba Tú llamabas Él llamaba Nosotros llamábamos I used to (would) call I was calling Tú llamabas You used to (would) call You were calling Él llamaba He used to (would) call He was calling Nosotros llamábamos We used (would) to call We were calling Vosotros llamabáis You all used to (would) call You all were calling Ellos llamaban They used to (would) call They were calling
Preterite vs Imperfect Words often (but not always) used with the Imperfecto: Los domingos- on sundays Los sábados por la noche Los fines de semana Cada día / Todos los días Antes En el pasado Algunas veces-sometimes A veces-sometimes De vez en cuando-from time to time Siempre-always Nunca-never A menudo-often Raramente / Rara vez-rarely Por lo general/ generalmente Usualmente Mientras… (while) Words often (but not always) used with the preterito: El domingo- on sunday El sábado pasado El fin de semana pasado Ayer-yesterday Anteayer Anoche-last night El día anterior-the day before El otro día-the other day Una vez-once/ one time Dos veces-twice Por primera vez De repente-suddenly De pronto-suddenly Por fin / finalmente síúóéáñ