alegar Imperfect Conjugation
alegar — to allege
The imperfect of alegar is regular: alegaba, alegabas, alegaba, alegábamos.
alegar Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use this for ongoing or repeated claims in the past, or to describe what someone was alleging when something else happened.
Notes on alegar in the Imperfect
Fully regular -ar verb in the imperfect. No spelling changes occur.
Example Sentences
Él siempre alegaba que no sabía nada.
He always used to claim that he knew nothing.
él/ella/usted
Mientras yo hablaba, ellos alegaban lo contrario.
While I was speaking, they were alleging the opposite.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Nosotros alegábamos que el contrato era injusto.
We were arguing that the contract was unfair.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: alegia
Correct: alegaba
Why: Learners sometimes use -er/-ir endings (-ía) for -ar verbs. Alegar always uses -aba in the imperfect.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: alego
Alegar is a completely regular -ar verb in the present indicative: alego, alegas, alega.
Preterite
yo: alegué
Alegar is regular in the preterite except for the 'yo' form, which changes to 'alegué'.
Future
yo: alegaré
The future of alegar is regular: add endings to the infinitive (alegaré, alegarás, alegará).
Conditional
yo: alegaría
The conditional of alegar is regular: add -ía endings to the infinitive (alegaría, alegarías).
Present Subjunctive
yo: alegue
The present subjunctive of alegar requires a spelling change to 'alegue' to keep the hard 'g' sound.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: alegara
The imperfect subjunctive of alegar is formed regularly from the third-person plural preterite: alegara, alegaras, alegara.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: alega
The imperative of alegar uses 'alega' for tú and 'alegue' for usted.
Negative Imperative
yo: no alegues
The negative imperative of alegar uses 'no' plus the present subjunctive: no alegues, no alegue.