descender Imperfect Conjugation
descender — to go down
The imperfect of descender is regular: descendía, descendías, descendía.
descender Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use this to describe a gradual descent that was happening in the past or a habitual action, like 'the sun used to go down behind those hills'.
Notes on descender in the Imperfect
Descender is regular in the imperfect. All forms use the -ía ending attached to the infinitive stem.
Example Sentences
Mientras descendíamos, vimos un oso.
While we were descending, we saw a bear.
nosotros
La niebla descendía sobre el pueblo cada tarde.
The fog used to descend over the town every afternoon.
él/ella/usted
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the 'i'.
Correct: descendía
Why: All imperfect endings for -er verbs require an accent on the 'i' to maintain the correct stress.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: desciendo
Descender is an e-to-ie stem-changer in the present tense (except for nosotros and vosotros).
Preterite
yo: descendí
Descender is completely regular in the preterite: descendí, descendiste, descendió.
Future
yo: descenderé
The future tense uses the full infinitive 'descender' as the stem: descenderé, descenderás.
Conditional
yo: descendería
The conditional is regular: descendería, descenderías, descendería.
Present Subjunctive
yo: descienda
The present subjunctive follows the e-to-ie stem change: descienda, desciendas.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: descendiera
Formed from the 3rd person plural preterite: descendiera, descendieras.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: desciende
The imperative uses 'desciende' for informal commands and 'descienda' for formal ones.
Negative Imperative
yo: no desciendas
Negative commands use 'no' + present subjunctive forms: no desciendas.