El imperfecto

-ar-aba -ábamos-abas-aba -aban

-er/-ir-ía -íamos-ías-ía -ían

La conjugación

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Sólo hay tres irregulares para todo el imperfecto!!!!!!!!!!!!!

serera éramoserasera eran

iriba íbamosibasiba iban  verveía veíamosveíasveía veían

When do we use this crazy thing?!?

…was doing… …were doing… …used to do…

Whenever you would say the following in English:

Also when you would say:

…did…

Except you can use the preterit for that too.

A problem?  Yes.  The biggest problem for English-speaking Spanish learners?

Yes.  Use the imperfect to describe actions in the past that are still in

the process of happening, except they are in the past, so technically they have ended.

Make sense?

Good.

Cuando era niño, iba a la playa todos los veranos. When I was a boy, I used to go to the beach every

summer.Or When I was a boy, I went to the beach every summer.Or When I was a boy, I would go to the beach every

summer.Or When I used to be a boy, I used to go to the beach

every summer. Etc.

Ejemplos:

When I was young, I used to believe in things too.

Yesterday while I was watching TV, I was also watching the skies.

It was a dark and stormy night…

Traducir:

I used to dive a lot. Yesterday at 2:00 we were releasing

torpedoes. The alligators lived in a river. The men sailed and tied and blocked.

Traducir: