Imperfect Tense Flashcards
[-AR Verbs]
(drop -ar, add)
yo -aba
tú -abas
él, ella, usted -aba
nosotros -ábamos
ellos, ellas, ustedes -aban
[-ER & -IR Verbs]
(drop -er, -ir, add)
yo -ía
tú -ías
él, ella, usted -ía
nosotros -íamos
ellos, ellas, ustedes -ían
There are only three verbs with irregular conjugations in Imperfect Tense
ir, ser and ver
“ir” imperfect conjugation
yo iba
tú ibas
él, ella, usted iba
nosotros íbamos
ellos, ellas, ustedes iban
“ser” imperfect conjugation
yo era
tú eras
él, ella, usted era
nosotros éramos
ellos, ellas, ustedes eran
“ver” imperfect conjugation
yo veía
tú veías
él, ella, usted veía
nosotros veíamos
ellos, ellas, ustedes veían
Imperfect Tense (which is a type of past tense) is used to…
(mainly narrate past actions, without referring to the specific time when an action took place or when the beginning or end of the action occured)
- describe continuing, ongoing actions in the past
- describe people of states of indefinite duration in the past
- to express the “would + verb/used to + verb” structure when referring to actions that took place repeatedly or customarily in the past.
- express age in the past
- describe the background or circumstances of an action
- indicate time of day in the past
- indicate a past mental state, mental action or a state of indefinite duration with verbs such as sentir, creer, conocer, pensar, querer and saber. Mental states are considered ongoing conditions
- “ing” in the past (as in “she was working and I was resting”)