defender Imperfect Conjugation
defender — defend
Defender is regular in the imperfect: defendía, defendías, defendía, defendíamos, defendíais, defendían.
defender Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe how someone used to defend something habitually or to describe an ongoing state of defense in the past.
Notes on defender in the Imperfect
As an -er verb, defender uses the standard -ía endings. It is regular in this tense.
Example Sentences
De niño, yo defendía a los más pequeños.
As a child, I used to defend the smaller kids.
yo
Los castillos defendían las fronteras del reino.
The castles used to defend the borders of the kingdom.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Siempre defendíamos la misma postura.
We always used to defend the same position.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the 'í'.
Correct: defendía
Why: All imperfect forms for -er and -ir verbs require an accent on the 'i'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: defiendo
Defender has an e > ie stem change in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: defendí
Defender is regular in the preterite: defendí, defendiste, defendió, defendimos, defendisteis, defendieron.
Future
yo: defenderé
The future of defender is regular: defenderé, defenderás, defenderá, defenderemos, defenderéis, defenderán.
Conditional
yo: defendería
The conditional of defender is regular: defendería, defenderías, defendería, defenderíamos, defenderíais, defenderían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: defienda
The present subjunctive of defender follows the e > ie stem change: defienda, defiendas, defienda, defendamos, defendáis, defiendan.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: defendiera
The imperfect subjunctive is regular based on the preterite stem: defendiera, defendieras, defendiera, defendiéramos, defendierais, defendieran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: defiende
The imperative uses the stem change (e > ie) for most commands: defiende, defienda, defendamos, defended, defiendan.
Negative Imperative
yo: no defiendas
The negative imperative uses the present subjunctive forms: no defiendas, no defienda, no defendamos, no defendáis, no defiendan.