designar Imperfect Conjugation
designar — to appoint
The imperfect of designar (designaba, designabas...) describes past habitual or ongoing appointments.
designar Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect tense to talk about actions of appointing that were habitual, ongoing, or used as background description in the past. For example, 'Cuando era joven, yo designaba a los líderes de los proyectos.' (When I was young, I used to appoint the project leaders.) It sets the scene or describes repeated actions.
Notes on designar in the Imperfect
'Designar' is regular in the imperfect indicative. The conjugation is formed by taking the stem from the infinitive ('designar-') and adding the regular imperfect -ar endings (-aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban).
Example Sentences
Yo designaba un representante para cada reunión.
I used to appoint a representative for each meeting.
yo
¿Tú designabas a los jueces en ese entonces?
Did you used to appoint the judges back then?
tú
Él designaba a los ganadores sin dudar.
He would appoint the winners without hesitation.
él/ella/usted
Ellos designaban a los mismos candidatos siempre.
They always appointed the same candidates.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using the preterite 'designó' for a habitual past action instead of the imperfect 'designaba'.
Correct: For actions that happened repeatedly or were ongoing in the past, use the imperfect: 'Ella designaba...' (She used to appoint...).
Why: The imperfect describes background, habits, and ongoing states in the past, whereas the preterite describes completed events.
Mistake: Confusing the nosotros imperfect ending: 'designábamos' vs 'designamos'.
Correct: The imperfect nosotros form is 'designábamos', with a 'b'.
Why: The 'b' is characteristic of the imperfect tense for -ar verbs.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: designo
The present tense of designar (designo, designas, designa...) describes current or habitual acts of appointing.
Preterite
yo: designé
The preterite of designar (designé, designaste, designó...) marks completed actions of appointing in the past.
Future
yo: designaré
The future tense of designar (designaré, designarás...) indicates future appointments or probability.
Conditional
yo: designaría
The conditional of designar (designaría, designarías...) expresses hypotheticals, polite requests, or future-in-the-past.
Present Subjunctive
yo: designe
The present subjunctive of designar (e.g., designe, designes) expresses wishes, doubts, or emotions.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: designara
The imperfect subjunctive of designar (e.g., designara, designaras) is used for past hypotheticals or wishes.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: designa
Use the imperative of designar for direct commands like 'designa' (tú) or 'designen' (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no designes
Negative commands with 'designar' use the present subjunctive, like 'no designes' (tú) or 'no designen' (ustedes).