pedir Imperfect Conjugation
pedir — to ask for
Pedir is regular in the imperfect: pedía, pedías, pedía, pedíamos, pedíais, pedían.
pedir Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe habitual requests in the past (things you used to order) or an ongoing request that was interrupted.
Notes on pedir in the Imperfect
Pedir is regular in the imperfect. There are no stem changes here, unlike the present or preterite.
Example Sentences
De niño, siempre pedía chocolate.
As a child, I always used to ask for chocolate.
yo
Mis padres pedían paciencia.
My parents used to ask for patience.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Pedíamos pizza todos los viernes.
We used to order pizza every Friday.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using 'pidía' instead of 'pedía'.
Correct: Use pedía.
Why: Learners often over-apply the stem change from the present tense to the imperfect.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: pido
Pedir features an 'e to i' stem change in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: pedí
Pedir has a third-person stem change (e to i) in the preterite: pidió and pidieron.
Future
yo: pediré
Pedir is regular in the future; simply add the endings to the infinitive: pediré, pedirás, etc.
Conditional
yo: pediría
The conditional of pedir is regular: pediría, pedirías, pediría, pediríamos, pediríais, pedirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: pida
Pedir changes the stem to 'pid-' for all forms in the present subjunctive.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: pidiera
The imperfect subjunctive of pedir uses the stem 'pidie-': pidiera, pidieras, pidiera...
Affirmative Imperative
yo: pide
Use 'pide' for informal commands and 'pida' for formal ones.
Negative Imperative
yo: no pidas
Negative commands for pedir use the present subjunctive forms with 'no'.