llover Imperfect Conjugation
llover — to rain
The imperfect of llover is regular: llovía, llovían.
llover Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe the weather as a background setting in the past (e.g., 'It was raining when I left') or to describe habitual rainy weather in the past.
Notes on llover in the Imperfect
Llover is completely regular in the imperfect tense.
Example Sentences
Llovía mucho cuando era niño.
It used to rain a lot when I was a child.
él/ella/usted
Salí de casa porque no llovía.
I left the house because it wasn't raining.
él/ella/usted
Mientras llovía, nosotros leíamos.
While it was raining, we were reading.
él/ella/usted
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Confusing llovía with llovió.
Correct: Use llovía for descriptions and llovió for completed actions.
Why: Llovía sets the scene, while llovió marks a specific event.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: lluevo
The present tense of llover features an o-to-ue vowel change: llueve, llueven.
Preterite
yo: lloví
The preterite of llover is regular: llovió, llovieron.
Future
yo: lloveré
The future tense of llover is regular: lloverá, lloverán.
Conditional
yo: llovería
The conditional of llover is regular: llovería, lloverían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: llueva
The present subjunctive of llover uses the stem change 'ue': llueva, lluevan.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: lloviera
The imperfect subjunctive of llover is lloviera or lloviese.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: llueve
The imperative of llover (llueve, lluevan) is rare and used figuratively.
Negative Imperative
yo: no lluevas
The negative imperative of llover (no llueva) uses the present subjunctive.