With this post you will learn about the conjugations and all the uses of the Spanish imperfect tense.
Additionally, there are plenty of examples with audios to help you better understand the concepts and to practice your listening skills.
The Spanish Imperfect Tense
As the same with preterite, the Spanish imperfect tense is used to talk about the past.
Unlike the preterite, we use the imperfect to talk about non completed actions. Click here to learn more about preterite vs imperfect.
The most common translations in English are: “used to,” “was/were…-ing,” and “would + infinitive verb“, and simple past conjugations such as “bought, went, drove, walked, etc.”,
How to Form the Imperfect Tense
The only thing you need to know in order to conjugate the regular verbs are the endings.
The following abbreviations are used: Subject pronoun (SUBJ. PRON.) and conjugations (CONJ.).
-AR VERBS
The endings of the imperfect tense for all –ar verbs have -aba in all forms.
| SUBJ. PRON. | ENDINGS |
|---|---|
| Yo | -aba |
| Tú | -abas |
| Él/ella/Ud. | -aba |
| Nosotros/as | -ábamos |
| Vosotros/as | -abais |
| Ellos/as/Uds. | -aban |
EXAMPLES
| SUBJ. PRON. | CANTAR |
|---|---|
| Yo | Cantaba |
| Tú | Cantabas |
| Él/ella/Ud. | Cantaba |
| Nosotros/as | Cantábamos |
| Vosotros/as | Cantabais |
| Ellos/as/Uds. | Cantaban |
-ER AND -IR VERBS
The endings of the imperfect form for all -er and -ir verbs have -ía in all forms.
| SUBJ. PRON. | -ER/-IR VERBS |
|---|---|
| Yo | -ía |
| Tú | -ías |
| Él/ella/Ud. | -ía |
| Nosotros/as | -íamos |
| Vosotros/as | -íais |
| Ellos/as/Uds. | -ían |
EXAMPLES
| SUBJ. PRON. | COMER |
|---|---|
| Yo | Comía |
| Tú | Comías |
| Él/ella/Ud. | Comía |
| Nosotros/as | Comíamos |
| Vosotros/as | Comíais |
| Ellos/as/Uds. | Comían |
| SUBJ. PRON. | VIVIR |
|---|---|
| Yo | Vivía |
| Tú | Vivías |
| Él/ella/Ud. | Vivía |
| Nosotros/as | Vivíamos |
| Vosotros/as | Vivíais |
| Ellos/as/Uds. | Vivían |
IRREGULAR VERBS
There are three irregular verbs: ser, ir and ver.
These are verbs whose conjugations you have to memorize. 😕
Ser
| SUBJ. PRON. | CONJ. |
|---|---|
| Yo | Era |
| Tú | Eras |
| Él/ella/Ud. | Era |
| Nosotros/as | Éramos |
| Vosotros/as | Erais |
| Ellos/as/Uds. | Eran |
Ir
| SUBJ. PRON. | CONJ. |
|---|---|
| Yo | Iba |
| Tú | Ibas |
| Él/ella/Ud. | Iba |
| Nosotros/as | Íbamos |
| Vosotros/as | Ibais |
| Ellos/as/Uds. | Iban |
Ver
| SUBJ. PRON. | CONJ. |
|---|---|
| Yo | Veía |
| Tú | Veías |
| Él/ella/Ud. | Veía |
| Nosotros/as | Veíamos |
| Vosotros/as | Veíais |
| Ellos/as/Uds. | Veían |
Uses of the Imperfect Tense
The Spanish imperfect tense describes past actions that are seen as an ongoing process. However, there are other specific uses of the imperfect.
ONGOING ACTIONS
EXAMPLES
- Las chicas hablaban en español. → The girls used to speak in Spanish.
- Estudiaba para el examen. → I was studying for the test.
NOT DEFINITE STARTING OR ENDING POINT
EXAMPLES
- Tenía novio. → I had a boyfriend.
- Cuando era joven, iba a la montaña. → When I was young, I would go to the mountain.
ACTIONS THAT TAKE PLACE OVER A INDEFINITE PERIOD OF TIME
EXAMPLES
- Yo viajaba a menudo. → I used to travel.
- Cuando era joven, leía mucho. → When he was young, he used to read a lot.
HABITUAL ACTIONS
EXAMPLES
- Nadábamos todas las mañanas. → We used to swim every morning.
- Iba al cine cada semana. → I used to go to the theater every week.
DESCRIPTION AND EXPRESSING BACKGROUND
EXAMPLES
- Hacía viento y llovía. → It was windy and it rained.
- Mi jefe era alto y rubio. → My boss was tall and blonde.
CERTAIN MENTAL ACTIVITIES (FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS)
EXAMPLES
- Quería viajar. → I wanted to travel.
- No pensábamos que iban a cambiar de oficina. → We didn´t think they were going to change the office.
TIMES, DATES AND AGE
EXAMPLES
- Eran las cuatro de la tarde. → It was 4pm.
- Era el tres de junio. → It was June 3rd.
- El chico tenía veinte años. → The boy was twenty years old.
INDIRECT DISCOURSE
In other words, to report what someone said in the past.
EXAMPLES
- Me dijo que iba al concierto. → She told me she was going to the concert.
- El director informó que pensaba despedir a los trabajadores. → The director stated that he was thinking about firing the workers.
Adverbs of Time and Adverbial Phrases
Below is a list with the adverbs of time and adverbial phrases that trigger the imperfect.
| SPANISH | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| A menudo | Often |
| A veces | Sometimes |
| Cada año | Each/every year |
| Cada día | Each/every day |
| Con frecuencia Frecuentemente | Frequently |
| Cada semana | Each/every week |
| De vez en cuando | From time to time |
| En aquella época | At that time During that time |
| Generalmente | Generally |
| Muchas veces | Many times |
| Nunca | Never |
| Siempre | Always |
| Todo el tiempo | All the time The whole time |
| Todos los días | Every day |
| Todas las semanas | Every week |
| Todos los lunes | Every Monday |
| Un día si, un día no | Every other day |
| Varias veces | Several times |
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you are now able to understand the use the Spanish imperfect tense better.
I advise you to practice with the examples here and try to make some others on your own. Also, do as many grammar exercises as you can to get used to this verb tense. In addition, practice the language in general until you get to the point that you know what tense to use just because it sounds “well”.
In order to learn more and practice these concepts, here are a couple books I recommend. They have simple explanations and a lot of grammar exercises.
Additionally, I can help you practice with this tense by using it while having a conversation during my online Spanish conversation classes.
Finally, we can practice in the comment section below by answering the following questions:
- ¿Qué deportes practicabas de pequeño?
- ¿Hacía frío cuando saliste de casa ayer?
- ¿Querías viajar de joven?
Hola and hi, I am Inés and I am the author of all the posts in the ConvoSpanish blog. My goal is to offer free content for people to practice their Spanish. Creating and maintaining the blog takes a lot of my free time however, due to my love of sharing Spanish with you, I will keep adding and updating the content in the blog. If you like the content of this post and believe that it helps you, please consider donating. I need coffee to keep me going while creating the posts. Aren´t they worth at least a cup of coffee? 😛 Any amount is appreciated. Donations will be used to support the free blog.
