comprender Imperfect Conjugation
comprender — understand
Comprender is regular in the imperfect: comprendía, comprendías, comprendía, comprendíamos, comprendíais, comprendían.
comprender Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe an ongoing state of understanding in the past or to set the scene (e.g., 'I understood the risks, but I did it anyway').
Notes on comprender in the Imperfect
Comprender is regular in the imperfect. Every single form in this tense has an accent on the first 'í' of the ending.
Example Sentences
Yo no comprendía por qué estaba tan enojada.
I didn't understand why she was so angry.
yo
Antes no comprendíamos la importancia de reciclar.
Before, we didn't understand the importance of recycling.
nosotros
Ustedes comprendían bien el problema.
You all understood the problem well.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: comprendia
Correct: comprendía
Why: In the imperfect for -er verbs, the 'i' must have an accent to maintain the correct syllable stress.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: comprendo
Comprender is a regular -er verb in the present: comprendo, comprendes, comprende, comprendemos, comprendéis, comprenden.
Preterite
yo: comprendí
The preterite of comprender is regular: comprendí, comprendiste, comprendió, comprendimos, comprendisteis, comprendieron.
Future
yo: comprenderé
The future of comprender uses the full infinitive as the stem: comprenderé, comprenderás, comprenderá, comprenderemos, comprenderéis, comprenderán.
Conditional
yo: comprendería
The conditional of comprender is regular: comprendería, comprenderías, comprendería, comprenderíamos, comprenderíais, comprenderían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: comprenda
The present subjunctive of comprender uses -a endings: comprenda, comprendas, comprenda, comprendamos, comprendáis, comprendan.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: comprendiera
The imperfect subjunctive of comprender uses the preterite stem: comprendiera, comprendieras, comprendiera, comprendiéramos, comprendierais, comprendieran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: comprende
The imperative of comprender varies by person: comprende (tú), comprenda (usted), comprendamos (nosotros), comprended (vosotros), comprendan (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no comprendas
The negative imperative of comprender uses the present subjunctive: no comprendas, no comprenda, no comprendamos, no comprendáis, no comprendan.