Capitulo Nueve - Gramatica Uno - The Imperfect Tense Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the “imperfect tense”?

A

The imperfect tense is a past tense in Spanish that signifies continuous or indefinite actions or conditions in the past.

There are not hard and fast rules for this, but it is more of a feeling to develop.

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2
Q

When, specifically, should the imperfect be used in Spanish grammar?

A

HEPAT (Habit, emotions, participials, age, time)

  • To talk about what you habitually did or used to do:

Todos los dias, desayunaba a las ocho y luego caminaba a la escuela.
Every day I used to eat breakfast at 8 and then I walked to school.

  • To describe an action in progress (participle) in the past:

Viviamos en Asuncion con me prima Enedina y sus padres
We were living in Asuncion with my cousin Enedina and her parents.

  • To tell time in the past:

Por lo general, eran las diez de la noche cuando comíamos.
It was usually ten at night when we would eat dinner.

  • To describe emotional or physical conditions in the past:

Todos estábamos muy contentos y nadie se enfermó ese año. Nos sentíamos muy afortunados.
We were all very happy and no one got sick that year. We felt very fortunate.

  • To describe ongoing weather conditions in the past:

Llovía mucho en paraguay en esa época.
It rained a lot in Paraguay during that time.

  • To tell someone’s age in the past:

Enedina tenía quince anos ese ano.
Enda was fifteen that year.

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3
Q

There are several ways to render the imperfect tense in English. For example, “comía” could be translated as:

A

I ate (routinely)
I was eating
I would eat
I used to eat

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4
Q

Are there any verbs that change their stems in the imperfect tense?

A

No. Other than a few irregular verbs (ir, ser, ver), every verb keeps its original stem in the imperfect.

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5
Q

Conjugate an -ar imperfect tense verb:

A

Cenar - to dine

cenaba
cenabas
cenaba

cenábamos
cenabais
cenaban

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6
Q

What is the difference in verb endings between an imperfect -er and -ir conjugations?

A

There isn’t one; they are exactly the same.

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7
Q

Conjugate an -er and an -ir imperfect tense verb:

A

comer - to eat

comía
comías
comía

comíamos
comíais
comían

______

pedir - to ask

pedía
pedías
pedía

pedíamos
pedíais
pedían

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8
Q

Conjugate the verb “ir” into the imperfect tense:

A

ir - to go

iba
ibas
iba

íbamos
ibais
iban

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9
Q

Conjugate “ser” into the imperfect tense:

A

ser - to be

era
eras
era
éramos
erais
eran
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10
Q

Conjugate “ver” into the imperfect tense:

A

ver - to see

veía
veías
veía

veíamos
veíais
veían

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11
Q

What is the imperfect conjugation of “hay”?

A

Había.

Había un restaurante muy bueno allí.

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12
Q

What is the main (ideal) difference between the preterite and the imperfect tenses?

A

The preterite should reflect defined or completed actions in the past. That is, they refer to a more certain point when something happened, began happening, stopped happening, or was the pivotal singular moment which changed ongoing background events.

I arrived in Argentina in January 2007.
I got sick 2 weeks ago.
When Geoffrey walked in, everybody was pissed.

___

The imperfect reflects the opposite: actions that occurred over a period of time or recurrently.

I was in Panama in 2007.
I was sick for the last two weeks.

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