espantar Imperfect Conjugation
espantar — to scare away
Espantaba, espantabas, espantaba, espantábamos, espantabais, espantaban describe ongoing or habitual past actions of scaring away.
espantar Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect tense for actions that were happening repeatedly or continuously in the past, or to describe the background scene. Think 'used to scare away' or 'was scaring away'.
Notes on espantar in the Imperfect
Espantar is a regular -ar verb, and its imperfect tense follows the standard pattern perfectly. You add the imperfect endings to the stem 'espant-'.
Example Sentences
Cuando era niño, yo espantaba a los pájaros de las fresas.
When I was a child, I used to scare away the birds from the strawberries.
yo
¿Tú espantabas a los perros con un palo?
Were you scaring away the dogs with a stick?
tú
El granjero espantaba a las plagas cada mañana.
The farmer scared away the pests every morning.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros espantábamos a los fantasmas de la casa vieja.
We used to scare away the ghosts from the old house.
nosotros
Vosotros espantabais a los gatos del jardín.
You all were scaring away the cats from the garden.
vosotros
Ellos espantaban a los ladrones con luces fuertes.
They used to scare away the thieves with strong lights.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using the preterite ('espantó') for ongoing or habitual past actions.
Correct: For actions that happened repeatedly or continuously, use 'espantaba' (e.g., 'He scared away pests daily').
Why: The preterite is for completed actions, while the imperfect is for ongoing or habitual past actions.
Mistake: Confusing the 'yo' and 'él/ella/usted' forms.
Correct: Both 'yo' and 'él/ella/usted' use 'espantaba'. Context is key.
Why: This is a common feature of the imperfect tense for regular -ar and -er/-ir verbs.
Master Spanish verbs in context
Memorizing tables only gets you so far. Read 200+ illustrated and narrated Spanish stories to see verbs like 'espantar' used naturally — in the tenses you're learning.
Related Tenses
Present
yo: espanto
Espanto, espantas, espanta, espantamos, espantáis, espantan describe current actions or habits of scaring away.
Preterite
yo: espanté
Espanté, espantaste, espantó, espantamos, espantasteis, espantaron are the completed past actions for espantar.
Future
yo: espantaré
Espantaré, espantarás, espantará, espantaremos, espantaréis, espantarán predict future actions of scaring away.
Conditional
yo: espantaría
Espantaría, espantarías, espantaría, espantaríamos, espantaríais, espantarían express hypothetical 'would' scenarios for espantar.
Present Subjunctive
yo: espante
Espante, espantes, espantemos, espanten, espantéis are the present subjunctive forms of espantar.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: espantara
Espantara, espantaras, espantáramos, espantaran, espantarais are the imperfect subjunctive forms of espantar.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: espanta
Espanta, espante, espantemos, espanten, espantad are the imperative commands for espantar.
Negative Imperative
yo: no espantes
No espantes, no espante, no espantemos, no espanten, no espantéis are negative commands for espantar.