guiar Imperfect Conjugation
guiar — to guide
The imperfect of guiar is completely regular: guiaba, guiabas, guiaba, guiábamos, guiabais, guiaban.
guiar Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use this to describe how someone used to guide others or to set the scene (e.g., 'The stars were guiding us').
Notes on guiar in the Imperfect
Guiar is fully regular in the imperfect. No special accents are needed on the 'i' here because the 'aba' ending naturally shifts the stress.
Example Sentences
Mi abuelo me guiaba por el jardín de niño.
My grandfather used to guide me through the garden as a child.
él/ella/usted
Las estrellas nos guiaban en la oscuridad.
The stars were guiding us in the dark.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Nosotros guiábamos a los voluntarios cada verano.
We used to guide the volunteers every summer.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the nosotros form.
Correct: guiábamos
Why: All 'nosotros' forms in the imperfect -ar conjugation require an accent on the first 'a' of the ending.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: guío
The present of guiar is irregular, adding an accent to the 'í' in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: guie
The preterite of guiar is regular in its endings, but 'guie' and 'guio' no longer take accents in modern spelling.
Future
yo: guiaré
The future of guiar is regular: guiaré, guiarás, guiará, guiaremos, guiaréis, guiarán.
Conditional
yo: guiaría
The conditional of guiar is regular: guiaría, guiarías, guiaría, guiaríamos, guiaríais, guiarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: guíe
The present subjunctive of guiar follows the present indicative's irregularity, adding an accent to 'í' in most forms.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: guiara
The imperfect subjunctive of guiar is regular: guiara, guiaras, guiara, guiáramos, guiarais, guiaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: guía
The imperative of guiar uses 'guía' for tú and 'guíe' for usted.
Negative Imperative
yo: no guíes
The negative imperative of guiar uses the present subjunctive forms: no guíes, no guíe, no guiemos, no guíen.