leer Imperfect Conjugation
leer — to read
The imperfect of leer is regular for -er verbs: leía, leías, leía, leíamos, leíais, leían.
leer Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe reading habits in the past (e.g., 'I used to read every night') or to set the scene (e.g., 'I was reading when the phone rang').
Notes on leer in the Imperfect
Leer is regular in the imperfect. Note that every single form has an accent on the first 'í'.
Example Sentences
De niño, leía muchos cómics.
As a child, I used to read many comics.
yo
Mientras él leía, yo cocinaba.
While he was reading, I was cooking.
él/ella/usted
Leíamos cuentos juntos cada noche.
We used to read stories together every night.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: leia
Correct: leía
Why: All imperfect forms of -er and -ir verbs require an accent on the 'i' to prevent it from blending into a diphthong.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: leo
Leer is regular in the present tense, following standard -er endings: leo, lees, lee, leemos, leéis, leen.
Preterite
yo: leí
The preterite of leer features a spelling change where 'i' becomes 'y' in the third-person forms: leyó and leyeron.
Future
yo: leeré
The future tense of leer is regular: simply add the endings -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án to the infinitive.
Conditional
yo: leería
The conditional of leer is regular: add the endings -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían to the infinitive.
Present Subjunctive
yo: lea
The present subjunctive of leer is regular: lea, leas, lea, leamos, leáis, lean.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: leyera
The imperfect subjunctive of leer uses the 'y' from the preterite: leyera, leyeras, leyera, leyéramos, leyerais, leyeran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: lee
Give commands with leer: lee (tú), lea (usted), leamos (nosotros), leed (vosotros), lean (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no leas
Negative commands for leer always use the present subjunctive forms: no leas, no lea, no leamos, no leáis, no lean.