acertar Imperfect Conjugation
acertar — to get right
The imperfect of acertar is regular: acertaba, acertabas, acertaba, acertábamos, acertabais, acertaban.
acertar Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use this for ongoing past states or habits, like describing someone who used to always get things right or was in the process of guessing.
Notes on acertar in the Imperfect
Acertar is regular in the imperfect. Just add the -aba endings to the stem 'acert-'.
Example Sentences
De niño, yo siempre acertaba los acertijos.
As a child, I always used to get the riddles right.
yo
Parecía que ellos nunca acertaban con el clima.
It seemed like they never got it right with the weather.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Mi abuelo acertaba siempre el ganador de la carrera.
My grandfather always guessed the race winner correctly.
él/ella/usted
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Adding an accent to all forms like 'acertába'.
Correct: acertaba
Why: In the imperfect -ar verbs, only the 'nosotros' form carries a written accent (acertábamos).
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: acierto
Acertar is a 'boot verb' where the 'e' changes to 'ie' in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: acerté
In the preterite, acertar is completely regular: acerté, acertaste, acertó, acertamos, acertasteis, acertaron.
Future
yo: acertaré
The future is regular: just add -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án to the full infinitive 'acertar'.
Conditional
yo: acertaría
The conditional is regular: add -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían to the infinitive 'acertar'.
Present Subjunctive
yo: acierte
The present subjunctive follows the 'ie' stem change: acierte, aciertes, acierte, acertemos, acertéis, acierten.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: acertara
The imperfect subjunctive is regular based on the preterite stem: acertara, acertaras, acertara, acertáramos, acertarais, acertaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: acierta
The affirmative command uses 'acierta' (tú) and 'acierte' (usted), following the stem change.
Negative Imperative
yo: no aciertes
Negative commands use 'no' plus the present subjunctive forms: no aciertes, no acierte, no acertemos, no acertéis, no acierten.