Inklingo
A child smiling after finding a glowing treasure chest partially buried on a beach.

descubrir Imperfect Conjugation

descubrirto discover

A2regular (-ir) with an irregular past participle -ir★★★★★
Quick answer:

The imperfect of descubrir is regular: descubría, descubrías, descubría, descubríamos, descubríais, descubrían.

descubrir Imperfect Forms

yodescubría
descubrías
él/ella/usteddescubría
nosotrosdescubríamos
vosotrosdescubríais
ellos/ellas/ustedesdescubrían

When to Use the Imperfect

Use this for ongoing discoveries in the past, or to describe a situation where someone was in the process of finding something out.

Notes on descubrir in the Imperfect

Descubrir is regular in the imperfect. All -ir verbs use the -ía endings.

Example Sentences

  • De niño, yo descubría mundos nuevos en los libros.

    As a child, I used to discover new worlds in books.

    yo

  • Ellos descubrían la ciudad poco a poco.

    They were discovering the city little by little.

    ellos/ellas/ustedes

  • Tú siempre descubrías mis secretos.

    You were always discovering my secrets.

Common Mistakes

  • Mistake: Omitting the accent on the 'i'.

    Correct: descubría

    Why: All imperfect forms of -ir verbs must have an accent on the 'í' to distinguish the tense and sound.

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Related Tenses