sonreír Imperfect Conjugation
sonreír — to smile
The imperfect of sonreír is regular: sonreía, sonreías, sonreía, sonreíamos, sonreíais, sonreían.
sonreír Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe a continuous state of smiling in the past or a habitual action ('used to smile').
Notes on sonreír in the Imperfect
It follows the regular -ir pattern for the imperfect, but keep the accent on the 'í' for all forms.
Example Sentences
De niño, siempre sonreía a los desconocidos.
As a child, I always used to smile at strangers.
yo
Ellos sonreían mientras caminaban por el parque.
They were smiling while they walked through the park.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Nosotros sonreíamos para las fotos familiares.
We used to smile for family photos.
nosotros
Common Mistakes
Mistake: sonreia
Correct: sonreía
Why: All imperfect endings for -er and -ir verbs require an accent on the 'í'.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: sonrío
Sonreír features a stem change (e > í) in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: sonreí
Sonreír is a stem-changer in the preterite, changing 'e' to 'i' in the third-person forms: sonrió and sonrieron.
Future
yo: sonreiré
Sonreír is regular in the future: just add the endings -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án to the infinitive.
Conditional
yo: sonreiría
The conditional of sonreír is regular: sonreiría, sonreirías, sonreiría, sonreiríamos, sonreiríais, sonreirían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: sonría
The present subjunctive changes the 'e' to 'í' (sonría) or 'i' (sonriamos).
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: sonriera
The imperfect subjunctive is built from the third-person plural preterite: sonriera, sonrieras, sonriera...
Affirmative Imperative
yo: sonríe
The imperative uses sonríe (tú) and sonría (usted) to command someone to smile.
Negative Imperative
yo: no sonrías
The negative imperative uses 'no' plus the present subjunctive: no sonrías, no sonría.