jugar Imperfect Conjugation
jugar — to play
The imperfect of jugar is regular: jugaba, jugabas, jugaba, jugábamos, jugabais, jugaban.
jugar Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to talk about what you 'used to play' as a child or to describe an ongoing game in the past.
Notes on jugar in the Imperfect
Jugar is completely regular in the imperfect. There are no stem changes or spelling shifts here.
Example Sentences
Cuando era niño, jugaba mucho al escondite.
When I was a child, I used to play hide-and-seek a lot.
yo
Nosotros jugábamos en la calle todos los días.
We used to play in the street every day.
nosotros
Ustedes jugaban mientras yo estudiaba.
You all were playing while I was studying.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the nosotros form: 'jugabamos'.
Correct: jugábamos
Why: All -ar verbs in the imperfect require an accent on the 'á' in the nosotros form.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: juego
Jugar is a stem-changer where the 'u' becomes 'ue' in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: jugué
The preterite of jugar is mostly regular, but the 'yo' form changes to jugué to keep the hard 'g' sound.
Future
yo: jugaré
The future tense of jugar is completely regular: just add the endings to the infinitive.
Conditional
yo: jugaría
The conditional of jugar is regular: just add -ía endings to the infinitive 'jugar'.
Present Subjunctive
yo: juegue
The present subjunctive of jugar combines the 'ue' stem change with a 'gu' spelling change.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: jugara
The imperfect subjunctive of jugar is based on the preterite 'ellos' form: jugara, jugaras...
Affirmative Imperative
yo: juega
The imperative of jugar uses the 'ue' stem change for most commands.
Negative Imperative
yo: no juegues
The negative imperative of jugar uses the present subjunctive forms preceded by 'no'.