marcar Imperfect Conjugation
marcar — dial
The imperfect of marcar is regular: marcaba, marcabas, marcaba, marcábamos, marcabais, marcaban.
marcar Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use this for past habits (e.g., 'I used to dial...') or to describe a state or ongoing action in the past (e.g., 'He was marking the boxes when...').
Notes on marcar in the Imperfect
This verb is regular. Remember that the 'nosotros' form always has an accent: marcábamos.
Example Sentences
Antes marcábamos los números en teléfonos de disco.
Before, we used to dial numbers on rotary phones.
nosotros
El jugador siempre marcaba en el último minuto.
The player always used to score in the last minute.
él/ella/usted
Yo marcaba la casilla mientras tú leías.
I was marking the box while you were reading.
yo
Common Mistakes
Mistake: marcabamos
Correct: marcábamos
Why: The 'nosotros' form of -ar verbs in the imperfect always requires an accent on the first 'a' of the ending.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: marco
The present tense of marcar is completely regular: marco, marcas, marca, marcamos, marcáis, marcan.
Preterite
yo: marqué
The preterite of marcar has a spelling change in the first person: marqué, marcaste, marcó, marcamos, marcasteis, marcaron.
Future
yo: marcaré
The future tense is formed by adding endings to the full infinitive: marcaré, marcarás, marcará, marcaremos, marcaréis, marcarán.
Conditional
yo: marcaría
The conditional uses the infinitive plus -ía endings: marcaría, marcarías, marcaría, marcaríamos, marcaríais, marcarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: marque
The present subjunctive uses a 'qu' spelling change: marque, marques, marque, marquemos, marquéis, marquen.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: marcara
The imperfect subjunctive is regular: marcara, marcaras, marcara, marcáramos, marcarais, marcaran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: marca
Give commands with marcar: marca (tú), marque (usted), marcad (vosotros), marquen (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no marques
Negative commands use the subjunctive with 'no': no marques, no marque, no marquemos, no marquéis, no marquen.