Imperfect

A2 El pretérito imperfecto 26 / 49

In short

The imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) is the “used to / was …-ing” past: it describes habits, ongoing background actions, and how things and people were. It is remarkably regular — only three verbs are irregular.

The rule

The imperfect sets the scene in the past. Where the preterite (lesson 24) reports a single finished event — what happened — the imperfect describes what was going on, what used to happen, or what things were like, without focusing on when they started or ended.

Use the imperfect for:

  • Habits / repeated actions - English “used to”, “would (always)”: De niño jugaba al fútbol.
  • Ongoing background - an action in progress, often “was/were …-ing”: Llovía y la gente corría.
  • Descriptions in the past - people, places, things, mental & emotional states: La casa era grande.
  • Age, time, weather, dates in the past: Eran las tres. Tenía veinte años. Hacía frío.

Step 1 — Find the stem. Take the infinitive and drop -ar / -er / -ir.

Step 2 — Add the endings. There is one set for -ar verbs and one shared set for -er and -ir. Every -ar ending carries a b (-aba-), and only nosotros adds an accent (-ábamos); every -er/-ir ending carries an accented í. There are no stem changes in the imperfect.

Forms & patterns

Regular imperfect — three verbs side by side:

Personhablar (speak)comer (eat)vivir (live)
yohablabacomíavivía
túhablabascomíasvivías
él / ella / ustedhablabacomíavivía
nosotros/-ashablábamoscomíamosvivíamos
vosotros/-ashablabaiscomíaisvivíais
ellos/-as / ustedeshablabancomíanvivían

The yo and él/ella/usted forms are always identical — add a pronoun or context if it is unclear.

The only three irregular verbs in the whole tense:

Personser (be)ir (go)ver (see)
yoeraibaveía
túerasibasveías
él / ella / ustederaibaveía
nosotros/-aséramosíbamosveíamos
vosotros/-aseraisibaisveíais
ellos/-as / ustedeseranibanveían

The past of hay (“there was / there were”) is había — from haber, invariable for singular and plural: Había un problema. Había muchos coches.

Examples

EspañolEnglish
De niño jugaba en la calle.As a child I used to play in the street.
Todos los veranos íbamos a la playa.Every summer we would go to the beach.
Llovía y hacía frío.It was raining and it was cold.
La casa era grande y tenía un jardín.The house was big and had a garden.
Eran las tres de la tarde.It was three in the afternoon.
Cuando era joven, vivíamos en Madrid.When I was young, we lived in Madrid.
Había mucha gente en la fiesta.There were a lot of people at the party.
Mi abuela siempre cocinaba los domingos.My grandmother always cooked on Sundays.

Common mistakes

  • De niño jugué al fútbol -> De niño jugaba al fútbol - a repeated past habit (“used to”) is the imperfect, not the preterite.
  • La casa fue vieja -> La casa era vieja - describing how something was uses the imperfect (era), not the preterite (fue).
  • Nosotros ibamos a la escuela -> íbamos - ir is irregular (iba, íbamos) and nosotros needs the written accent.
  • Habían muchas personas -> Había muchas personas - the impersonal past “there was/were” is always the singular había.
  • Yo vía la tele -> veía - ver keeps its stem e: ve- + -ía = veía, never “vía”.
  • comiamos -> comíamos - every -er/-ir imperfect form carries the accented í.

Tips

  • Two ending families: -ar -> -aba…; -er and -ir share -ía…. Learn them as a pair.
  • Only three irregulars — ser (era), ir (iba), ver (veía). Everything else is 100% regular: no stem changes, no exceptions.
  • Trigger words that love the imperfect: siempre, todos los días, mientras, cuando era…, de niño, antes, normalmente, cada.
  • English “used to” and habitual “would” almost always = imperfect; “it was + adjective / place / time / weather” = imperfect.
  • The nosotros forms always take a written accent: hablábamos, comíamos, íbamos, éramos.