6.5 El imperfecto

The imperfect tense is one of two ways to talk about events that happened in the past in Spanish. While the preterite is used to talk about completed actions in the past that narrate what happened, the imperfect is used to:

• describe repeated, habitual, or usual actions in the past
• describe actions that were ongoing in the past
• describe what things were like in the past (what one “used to do”)

The imperfect can use time phrases that are called “palabras claves” or “key words” that indicate repetition, such as: “siempre” (always), “todos los días” (everyday), “todos los años” (every year), “con frecuencia” (frequently), “usualmente” (usually), “normalmente” (normally), “generalmente” (generally), “a veces”(sometimes), etc.

The imperfect tends to be one of the easiest tenses to conjugate, as well as the funniest—you try saying “trabajábamos” five times fast!

Notice that the –er and –ir verbs follow the same pattern and that the “yo” and “él/ella/usted” forms are the same conjugation.

Here is a chart with two examples of regular verbs in the imperfect tense:

	–ar: hablar	–er/-ir: comer
yo	hablaba	comía
tú	hablabas	comías
él/ella/usted	hablaba	comía
nosotros	hablábamos	comíamos
vosotros	hablabais	comíais
ellos	hablaban	comían

Note: There is only one accent mark in the –ar verbs and it occurs in the nosotros form, while –er and –ir verbs have an accented “í” in every imperfect ending.

Ejemplos:

• Cuando yo era niña, no había celulares.
  (When I was a little girl, there were no cellphones)*
• Yo chateaba por internet mientras mi hermano montaba en bicicleta.
  (I chatted online while my brother rode a bike.)

Remember: The verb “Haber” is only used in the singular form.

• • “hay” in the present tense
  • “hubo” in the preterite
  • “había” in the imperfect

There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect: ser, ir, ver

	SER	IR	VER
yo	era	iba	veía
tú	eras	ibas	veías
él/ella/usted	era	iba	veía
nosotros	éramos	íbamos	veíamos
vosotros	erais	ibais	veíais
ellos	eran	iban	veían