competir Imperfect Conjugation
competir — to compete
Competir is regular in the imperfect: competía, competías, competía, competíamos, competíais, competían.
competir Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use this to describe a habit of competing in the past or to set the scene of a competition that was ongoing when something else happened.
Notes on competir in the Imperfect
There are no stem changes or irregularities for competir in the imperfect indicative.
Example Sentences
De niño, yo competía en natación.
As a child, I used to compete in swimming.
yo
Ellos competían todos los veranos.
They used to compete every summer.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Mientras competíamos, empezó a nevar.
While we were competing, it started to snow.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: compitía
Correct: competía
Why: The e > i stem change does not occur in the imperfect indicative.
Master Spanish verbs in context
Memorizing tables only gets you so far. Read 200+ illustrated and narrated Spanish stories to see verbs like 'competir' used naturally — in the tenses you're learning.
Related Tenses
Present
yo: compito
Competir is an e > i stem-changer in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: competí
Competir has a third-person stem change (e > i) in the preterite: compitió and compitieron.
Future
yo: competiré
Competir is regular in the future tense: competir + endings (é, ás, á, emos, éis, án).
Conditional
yo: competiría
Competir is regular in the conditional: competiría, competirías, competiría...
Present Subjunctive
yo: compita
Competir changes e > i in all forms of the present subjunctive (compita, compitamos).
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: compitiera
Based on the preterite 'compitieron', the stem is 'compitiera' for all forms.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: compite
Use 'compite' (tú) or 'compita' (usted) to command someone to compete.
Negative Imperative
yo: no compitas
Negative commands use the present subjunctive forms: no compitas, no compita.