destruir Imperfect Conjugation
destruir — destroy
The imperfect of destruir is regular: destruía, destruías, destruía, destruíamos, destruíais, destruían.
destruir Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe a process of destruction that was ongoing in the past, or to describe something that 'used to' destroy something else habitually.
Notes on destruir in the Imperfect
Destruir follows the standard -ir verb pattern in the imperfect. Note that every single form has an accent on the 'í'.
Example Sentences
El fuego destruía el bosque lentamente.
The fire was destroying the forest slowly.
él/ella/usted
De niños, destruíamos nuestros juguetes a propósito.
As kids, we used to destroy our toys on purpose.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the 'i'.
Correct: destruía
Why: All -er and -ir verbs in the imperfect require an accent on the 'i' to separate the vowels into two syllables.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: destruyo
Destruir is a 'y-verb' in the present tense, adding a 'y' before the ending in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: destruí
The preterite of destruir is irregular, changing the 'i' to 'y' in the third-person forms: destruyó and destruyeron.
Future
yo: destruiré
The future tense of destruir is regular: añadiré las terminaciones al infinitivo.
Conditional
yo: destruiría
The conditional of destruir is regular: destruiría, destruirías, destruiría, destruiríamos, destruiríais, destruirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: destruya
The present subjunctive of destruir follows the 'y' pattern: destruya, destruyas, destruya, destruyamos, destruyáis, destruyan.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: destruyera
The imperfect subjunctive of destruir is based on the third-person preterite: destruyera, destruyeras, destruyera...
Affirmative Imperative
yo: destruye
The imperative of destruir uses 'destruye' (tú) and 'destruya' (usted), following the 'y' spelling change.
Negative Imperative
yo: no destruyas
The negative imperative of destruir uses the present subjunctive: no destruyas, no destruya, no destruyamos...