Imperfect

December 28, 2016

Imperfect (Past Tense)

Second past tense in Spanish is usually translated as “used to do” or “was/were doing” in English, and this tense is much more regular comparing to preterit since there are two patterns of regular verbs endings -AR/-ER,-ER with 3 irregular verbs.

-AR Verb (-aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban)

Trabajar to work	Singular	Plural
1^st Person	trabajaba I used to work	trabajábamos We used to work
2^nd Person	trabajabas You used to work	trabajabais You used to work
3^rd Person	trabajaba He used to work	trabajaban They used to work

-ER Verb (-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían)

Comer to eat	Singular	Plural
1^st Person	comía I used to eat	comíamos We used to eat
2^nd Person	comías You used to eat	comíais You used to eat
3^rd Person	comía He used to eat	comían They used to eat

-IR Verb (-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían)

Vivir to live	Singular	Plural
1^st Person	vivía I used to live	vivíamos We used to live
2^nd Person	vivías You used to live	vivíais You used to live
3^rd Person	vivía He used to live	vivían They used to live

Yo tenía 5 años cuando movamos a la casa nueva. I was 5 years old when we moved to the new house.

Él comía carne, pero ahora no come carne como es vegetariano. He used to eat meat, but he doesn’t now since he is vegetarian.

Ellos vivían en España, pero movieron al Brasil hace 2 años. They used to live in Spain, but they moved to Brazil 2 years ago.

Here are the irregular verbs in imperfect tense

Imperfect Irregular Verbs (There are only 3 verbs that are irregular in the imperfect tense)

Ser to be	Singular	Plural
1^st Person	era I used to be	éramos We used to be
2^nd Person	eras You used to be	erais You used to be
3^rd Person	era He used to be	eran They used to be

Ir to go	Singular	Plural
1^st Person	iba I used to go	íbamos We used to go
2^nd Person	ibas You used to go	ibais You used to go
3^rd Person	iba He used to go	iban They used to go

Ver to go	Singular	Plural
1^st Person	veía I used to see	veíamos We used to see
2^nd Person	veías You used to see	veíais You used to see
3^rd Person	veía He used to see	veían They used to see

Grammar Points

Posted by José