extinguir Imperfect Conjugation
extinguir — to extinguish
The imperfect of extinguir is completely regular: extinguía, extinguías, extinguía, extinguíamos, extinguíais, extinguían.
extinguir Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe ongoing past processes, like a species that was slowly dying out or a fire that was burning down over time.
Notes on extinguir in the Imperfect
Extinguir is regular in the imperfect. All -ir verbs in the imperfect use the -ía ending with an accent on the 'i'.
Example Sentences
Antiguamente, muchas especies se extinguían sin que lo supiéramos.
In the past, many species were going extinct without us knowing.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
El fuego se extinguía lentamente en la chimenea.
The fire was slowly dying out in the fireplace.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros extinguíamos las luces a las diez.
We used to put out the lights at ten.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the 'i' in the endings.
Correct: extinguía
Why: All imperfect endings for -er and -ir verbs require a written accent on the 'i'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: extingo
The present tense of extinguir is mostly regular, but the 'yo' form changes to 'extingo' to keep the hard 'g' sound.
Preterite
yo: extinguí
The preterite of extinguir is regular, focusing on completed actions like putting out a fire or a species going extinct.
Future
yo: extinguiré
The future tense of extinguir is regular, formed by adding endings to the full infinitive: extinguiré, extinguirás, etc.
Conditional
yo: extinguiría
The conditional of extinguir is regular: extinguiría, extinguirías, extinguiría, extinguiríamos, extinguiríais, extinguirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: extinga
The present subjunctive of extinguir changes the 'gu' to 'g' in all forms: extinga, extingas, extinga, extingamos, extingáis, extingan.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: extinguiera
The imperfect subjunctive of extinguir follows the third-person plural preterite: extinguiera, extinguieras, extinguiera, extinguiéramos, extinguierais, extinguieran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: extingue
The imperative of extinguir uses 'extingue' for informal tú and 'extinga' for formal commands.
Negative Imperative
yo: no extingas
The negative imperative of extinguir always drops the 'u' to keep the hard 'g' sound: no extingas, no extinga, no extingamos, no extingáis, no extingan.