aburrir Imperfect Conjugation
aburrir — to bore
The imperfect tense of abrir is regular: abría, abrías, abría, abríamos, abríais, abrían.
aburrir Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect for ongoing actions in the past, habitual actions in the past, or descriptions. For 'abrir,' it means opening something repeatedly or as part of a past background scene.
Notes on aburrir in the Imperfect
Abrir is regular in the imperfect tense. All forms are derived directly from the infinitive.
Example Sentences
Yo abría el buzón todos los días.
I used to open the mailbox every day.
yo
Tú abrías la puerta con una llave vieja.
You were opening the door with an old key.
tú
Cuando era niño, él abría regalos con mucha emoción.
When he was a child, he would open presents with a lot of excitement.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros abríamos el restaurante a las siete.
We used to open the restaurant at seven.
nosotros
Ellos abrían sus cuadernos mientras el profesor hablaba.
They were opening their notebooks while the teacher was talking.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using the preterite 'abrió' instead of the imperfect 'abría' for habitual past actions.
Correct: For repeated or ongoing past actions, use the imperfect: 'Yo abría...', not 'Yo abrió...'.
Why: The imperfect describes background or continuous actions, while the preterite describes completed events.
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on 'abrían' for ellos/ellas/ustedes.
Correct: The correct form is 'abrían', with an accent on the 'i'.
Why: The accent is needed to show the correct stress and pronunciation.
Master Spanish verbs in context
Memorizing tables only gets you so far. Read 200+ illustrated and narrated Spanish stories to see verbs like 'aburrir' used naturally — in the tenses you're learning.
Related Tenses
Present
yo: aburro
The present tense of abrir is regular: abro, abres, abre, abrimos, abrís, abren.
Preterite
yo: aburrí
Future
yo: aburriré
The future tense of abrir is regular: abriré, abrirás, abrirá, abriremos, abriréis, abrirán.
Conditional
yo: aburriría
The conditional of abrir is regular: abriría, abrirías, abriría, abriríamos, abriríais, abrirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: aburra
The present subjunctive of abrir (abra, abras, abramos, abráis, abran) is used for wishes, doubts, and emotions.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: aburriera
The imperfect subjunctive of abrir (abriera/abriese) is used for past hypotheticals, wishes, or polite requests.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: aburre
Use the imperative of abrir for direct commands: abre, abra, abramos, abrid, abran.
Negative Imperative
yo: no aburras
Negative commands use 'no' plus the present subjunctive: no abras, no abra, no abramos, no abráis, no abran.