poner Imperfect Conjugation
poner — to put
Poner is completely regular in the imperfect: ponía, ponías, ponía...
poner Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use this to describe where things used to be, habits of putting things somewhere, or background actions (e.g., 'I was putting on my shoes when...').
Notes on poner in the Imperfect
Poner is regular in this tense. It uses the standard -er endings: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían.
Example Sentences
De niño, yo siempre ponía los juguetes bajo la cama.
As a child, I always used to put my toys under the bed.
yo
Ella ponía la radio mientras cocinaba.
She used to put the radio on while she cooked.
él/ella/usted
Nosotros poníamos mucha atención en clase.
We used to pay (put) a lot of attention in class.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Using 'pusiera' for descriptions.
Correct: ponía.
Why: Don't confuse the imperfect indicative with the imperfect subjunctive. For 'used to put', use 'ponía'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: pongo
Poner is regular in the present tense, except for the 'yo' form: pongo.
Preterite
yo: puse
The preterite of poner is highly irregular, using the 'pus-' stem: puse, pusiste, puso, pusimos, pusisteis, pusieron.
Future
yo: pondré
The future of poner uses the irregular stem 'pondr-': pondré, pondrás, pondrá...
Conditional
yo: pondría
The conditional uses the irregular stem 'pondr-': pondría, pondrías, pondría...
Present Subjunctive
yo: ponga
The present subjunctive of poner follows the 'yo' form: ponga, pongas, ponga...
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: pusiera
The imperfect subjunctive uses the 'pusier-' stem: pusiera, pusieras, pusiera...
Affirmative Imperative
yo: pon
The command for 'tú' is short and irregular: pon.
Negative Imperative
yo: no pongas
Negative commands use the present subjunctive: no pongas, no ponga, no pongamos...