The Imperfect Tense:El Imperfecto

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Preterite You have already learned to

talk about the past using the preterite tense for actions that began and ended at a definite time.

Preterite Ana cantó en la fiesta

anoche. Ana sang at the party last

night. (Completed past action.)

Imperfect The imperfect tense is

another way to talk about the past. We use it to describe actions without any indication of their beginning or end.

Imperfect Ana cantaba. Ana was singing. (No indication of beginning

or end.)

Imperfect We use the imperfect to talk

about actions that happened repeatedly in the past. In English we often say “used to” or “would” to express this idea.

Imperfect Generalmente caminaban

mucho. Generally they would walk a

lot.

Imperfect Jugaban con otros niños de

la familia. They used to play with other

children in the family.

Imperfect Expressions such as

generalmente, a menudo, muchas veces, todos los días, siempre, and nunca can cue us to use the imperfect.

Imperfect Here are all the forms of -ar

verbs in the imperfect. Notice the accent mark on the nosotros form.

CANTAR (to sing)Yo cantaba

Tú cantabasÉlElla cantabaUd.

Nos. cantábamos

Vos. cantabaisEllosEllas cantabanUds.

Since the yo and the Ud./él/ella forms are the same, we often use the subject pronouns to avoid confusion.

Imperfect

Imperfect

Let’s do a few more verbs.

PATINAR (to skate)Yo patinaba

Tú patinabasÉlElla patinabaUd.

Nos. patinábamos

Vos. patinabaisEllosEllas patinabanUds.

USAR (to use)Yo usaba

Tú usabasÉlElla usabaUd.

Nos. usábamos

Vos. usabaisEllosEllas usabanUds.

JUGAR (to play)Yo jugaba

Tú jugabasÉlElla jugabaUd.

Nos. jugábamos

Vos. jugabaisEllosEllas jugabanUds.

Now we will learn the -er/-ir verb endings in the imperfect tense.

Imperfect

BEBER (to drink)Yo bebía

Tú bebíasÉlElla bebíaUd.

Nos. bebíamos

Vos. bebíaisEllosEllas bebíanUds.

ESCRIBIR (to write)Yo escribía

Tú escribíasÉlElla escribíaUd.

Nos. escribíamos

Vos. escribíaisEllosEllas escribíanUds.

Let’s review once more.

COMER (to eat)Yo comía

Tú comíasÉlElla comíaUd.

Nos. comíamos

Vos. comíaisEllosEllas comíanUds.

Note: -ER and –IR verbs use

the same endings. All forms of –ER and

–IR endings have accent marks over the “i”.

-AR verbs have an accent mark in the “Nosotros” form.

Hablábamos Trabajábamos

Stem-changes: Note: There are no stem-

changes in the Imperfect tense.

Jugar: Yo jugaba.

Note: The imperfect of hay

(there is, there are) is había. (There was, there were)

Example: Había una vaca en el

corral. There was a cow in the

corral.

Verbos Irregulares: There are only 3

irregular verbs in the Imperfect tense:

Ir Ser Ver

IR (to go)Yo iba

Tú ibasÉlElla ibaUd.

Nos. íbamos

Vosotros ibaisEllosEllas ibanUds.

SER (to be)Yo era

Tú erasÉlElla eraUd.

Nosotros éramos

Vosotros eraisEllosEllas eranUds.

VER (to see)Yo veía

Tú veíasÉlElla veíaUd.

Nosotros veíamos

Vosotros veíaisEllosEllas veíanUds.

Imperfect vs. PreteriteImperfect Ongoing, Continuing action (I

used to do this all the time, We went to Spain every summer, I bought a ticket every day.)

Descriptions in the past (She was beautiful, It was cold

and rainy.) Time/ Date/ Weather Was/Were + -ing (I was

walking, he was singing) “Used to”

Preterite Completed, one-time action (I

entered the room, I closed the door, I flew to Europe.)

Sequence of events (First this happened, then this,

then this.)