recoger Imperfect Conjugation
recoger — to pick up
The imperfect of recoger is regular: recogía, recogías, recogía, recogíamos, recogíais, recogían.
recoger Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use this to describe habitual past actions (e.g., 'I used to pick up my sister') or ongoing background actions (e.g., 'I was tidying up when the phone rang').
Notes on recoger in the Imperfect
Recoger is regular in the imperfect. All -er verbs in this tense use the endings -ía, -ías, -ía, etc., with an accent on the 'i'.
Example Sentences
De niño, yo nunca recogía mis juguetes.
As a child, I never used to pick up my toys.
yo
Mientras ella recogía la cocina, él ponía la tele.
While she was tidying the kitchen, he turned on the TV.
él/ella/usted
Recogíamos a los abuelos todos los domingos.
We used to pick up our grandparents every Sunday.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Forgetting the accent on the 'i' (writing 'recogia').
Correct: recogía
Why: All forms of -er verbs in the imperfect require an accent on the 'i' to maintain the correct stress.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: recojo
Recoger has a spelling change in the 'yo' form (recojo) to keep the 'h' sound, but is otherwise regular.
Preterite
yo: recogí
The preterite of recoger is regular: recogí, recogiste, recogió, recogimos, recogisteis, recogieron.
Future
yo: recogeré
The future of recoger is regular: recogeré, recogerás, recogerá, recogeremos, recogeréis, recogerán.
Conditional
yo: recogería
The conditional of recoger is regular: recogería, recogerías, recogería, recogeríamos, recogeríais, recogerían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: recoja
The present subjunctive of recoger uses the 'j' spelling in all forms: recoja, recojas, recoja, recojamos, recojáis, recojan.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: recogiera
The imperfect subjunctive of recoger is regular: recogiera, recogieras, recogiera, recogiéramos, recogierais, recogieran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: recoge
The imperative uses 'recoge' (tú) and 'recoja' (usted). Note the 'j' in the formal and plural forms.
Negative Imperative
yo: no recojas
The negative imperative always uses a 'j': no recojas, no recoja, no recojamos, no recojáis, no recojan.