{"id":138367,"date":"2024-02-16T06:13:03","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T11:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/imperfect-tense-spanish\/"},"modified":"2024-11-14T04:41:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T09:41:26","slug":"imperfect-tense-spanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/spanish\/imperfect-tense-spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"The Imperfect Tense in Spanish: How to Use It with Confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The imperfect is one of the Spanish past tenses<\/a>. It expresses events and actions that were ongoing or occurred within an indefinite time frame.<\/p>\n

In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the imperfect tense in Spanish\u2014how to conjugate it, when to use it, common expressions used with it, irregular imperfect verbs and how it differs from the very similar preterite tense.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What is the Spanish Imperfect Tense?<\/h2>\n

The imperfect tense is one of the five past tenses in Spanish. It describes habitual past actions, actions that were ongoing or actions without a specific start and end time. <\/strong>It’s formed by adding -aba, -abas, -aba, -\u00e1bamos, -abais\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0-aban<\/em> to\u00a0-ar<\/em> verbs, and\u00a0-\u00eda, -\u00edas, -\u00eda, -\u00edamos, -\u00edais\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0-\u00edan<\/em> to\u00a0-er<\/em> and\u00a0-ir<\/em> verbs.<\/p>\n

It’s often confused with the preterite (simple past tense), as these are the two main past tenses in Spanish\u2014but more on this later!<\/p>\n

Here are a few examples of the imperfect tense in Spanish:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t
Spanish<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Juan cantaba<\/strong> una canci\u00f3n mientras Ana regaba<\/strong> las plantas. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>Juan was singing<\/strong> a song while Ana was watering<\/strong> the plants.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Yo com\u00eda<\/strong> comida sana cuando estaba<\/strong> en la universidad. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>I ate<\/strong> healthy food when I was<\/strong> in college.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cuando \u00e9l era<\/strong> peque\u00f1o, visitaba<\/strong> a su abuela todos los s\u00e1bados. <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>When he was<\/strong> little, he visited<\/strong> his grandmother every Saturday.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Regular Verb Conjugations in the Imperfect Tense<\/h2>\n

Remember that each Spanish verb falls into one of three conjugations<\/a> depending on their ending: -ar <\/em>verbs, –<\/em><\/strong>er <\/em>verbs and –ir<\/em> verbs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Something that makes the imperfect easier than other tenses is that the conjugations for\u00a0-er<\/em> and\u00a0-ir<\/em> verbs are the same.<\/p>\n

Here’s how you conjugate these three verbs in the imperfect tense:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Subject<\/th>-AR Endings<\/th>-ER Endings<\/th>-IR Endings<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Yo <\/a>\n <\/td>-aba<\/i><\/td>-\u00eda<\/i><\/td>-\u00eda<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
T\u00fa <\/a>\n <\/td>-abas<\/i><\/td>-\u00edas<\/i><\/td>-\u00edas<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00c9l <\/a>\n
\n Ella <\/a>\n
\n Usted <\/a>\n <\/td>		-aba<\/i><\/td>-\u00eda<\/i><\/td>-\u00eda<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nosotros <\/a>\n <\/td>-\u00e1bamos<\/i><\/td>-\u00edamos<\/i><\/td>-\u00edamos<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vosotros <\/a>\n <\/td>-abais<\/i><\/td>-\u00edais<\/i><\/td>-\u00edais<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ellos <\/a>\n
\n Ellas <\/a>\n
\n Ustedes <\/a>\n <\/td>		-aban<\/i><\/td>-\u00edan<\/i><\/td>-\u00edan<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Now that you know the conjugations, let’s look at some examples with -ar, -er\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0-ir<\/em> verbs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Subject<\/th>Hablar<\/em>\u00a0(To Speak)<\/th>Comer<\/em>\u00a0(To Eat)<\/th>Escribir<\/em>\u00a0(To Write)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Yo <\/a>\n <\/td> hablaba<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> com\u00eda<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> escrib\u00eda<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
T\u00fa <\/a>\n <\/td> hablabas<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> com\u00edas<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> escrib\u00edas<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00c9l <\/a>\n
\n Ella <\/a>\n
\n Usted <\/a>\n <\/td>		 hablaba<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> com\u00eda<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> escrib\u00eda<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nosotros <\/a>\n <\/td> habl\u00e1bamos<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> com\u00edamos<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>escrib\u00edamos<\/strong><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vosotros <\/a>\n <\/td> hablabais<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> com\u00edais<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> escrib\u00edais<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ellos <\/a>\n
\n Ellas <\/a>\n
\n Ustedes <\/a>\n <\/td>		 hablaban<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> com\u00edan<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> escrib\u00edan<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Irregular Verb Conjugations in the Imperfect Tense<\/h2>\n

Ser<\/em>\u00a0(to be),\u00a0ir <\/em>(to go) and\u00a0ver<\/em> (to see, to watch) are the only three irregular verbs<\/a> in the imperfect tense:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Subject<\/th>Ser<\/em><\/strong> (To Be)<\/strong><\/th>Ir<\/em><\/strong> (To Go)<\/strong><\/th>Ver<\/em><\/strong> (To See\/Watch)<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Yo <\/a>\n <\/td>era<\/td> iba <\/a>\n <\/td> ve\u00eda <\/a>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
T\u00fa <\/a>\n <\/td>eras<\/td> ibas <\/a>\n <\/td> ve\u00edas <\/a>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00c9l <\/a>\n
\n Ella <\/a>\n
\n Usted <\/a>\n <\/td>		era<\/td> iba <\/a>\n <\/td> ve\u00eda <\/a>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nosotros <\/a>\n <\/td>\u00e9ramos<\/td> \u00edbamos <\/a>\n <\/td> ve\u00edamos <\/a>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vosotros <\/a>\n <\/td>erais<\/td> ibais <\/a>\n <\/td> ve\u00edais <\/a>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ellos <\/a>\n
\n Ellas <\/a>\n
\n Ustedes <\/a>\n <\/td>		eran<\/td> iban <\/a>\n <\/td> ve\u00edan <\/a>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

But even though these verbs are irregular, they do follow a certain pattern:\u00a0<\/p>\n