The Imperfect Tense: Regular Verbs

The imperfect tense is used to talk about past actions or states that were ongoing, habitual, or incomplete. Think of it as the 'used to' or '-ing' tense in the past.

When to Use the Imperfect

• Habitual Actions: To describe things you used to do repeatedly.

  • Example: Yo jugaba al fútbol todos los días. (I used to play soccer every day.)

• Ongoing Past Actions: To describe an action in progress in the past, often setting the scene for another action.

  • Example: Llovía cuando salí de casa. (It was raining when I left the house.)

• Descriptions: To describe people, places, things, feelings, time, and weather in the past.

  • Example: La casa era grande y tenía un jardín bonito. (The house was big and had a pretty garden.)

Regular Verb Endings

To form the imperfect tense with regular verbs, you remove the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add the following endings:

-AR Verbs (e.g., hablar)

• yo: -aba (hablaba)
• tú: -abas (hablabas)
• él/ella/usted: -aba (hablaba)
• nosotros/as: -ábamos (hablábamos)
• vosotros/as: -abais (hablabais)
• ellos/ellas/ustedes: -aban (hablaban)

-ER and -IR Verbs (e.g., comer, vivir) - They share the same endings!

• yo: -ía (comía, vivía)
• tú: -ías (comías, vivías)
• él/ella/usted: -ía (comía, vivía)
• nosotros/as: -íamos (comíamos, vivíamos)
• vosotros/as: -íais (comíais, vivíais)
• ellos/ellas/ustedes: -ían (comían, vivían)

Note: This drill focuses only on these regular patterns. There are a few irregular verbs in the imperfect, but you'll master them later!