The Imperfect Flashcards
The imperfect tense
It is a past tense.
It is used to described past habitual actions.
It is used to describe actions that occured over a prolongued period of time in the past.
It is similar to “used to” or “was doing”.
It is used to give background details of an event or person.
Describes feelings or state of mind (actions that are not physical).
How do you form the conjugations for regular verbs?
Drop the infinitive (–ar, -er, -ir) and add the corresponding conjugations.
Imperfect conjugations for -ar ending verbs:
HINT: IT’S SIMILAR TO THE FLINSTONS’ SONG:
“yABA, dABA, do”
If you can recognize these basic singular conjugation, you can remember the other forms.
yo > aba nosotros > ábamos
tú > abas ustedes > aban
usted > aba
él, ella > aba ellos, ellas > aban
(nosotros has an accent mark on the first a)
Imperfect conjugations for -er, -ir ending verbs
Hint: just sing the Old McDonald Had a Song,
ia, ia, io
yo > ía nosotros, -as > íamos
tú > ías ustedes > ían
usted > ía
él, ella > ía ellos, ellas > ían
(note: all i’s have an accent mark)
There are only THREE irregular verbs in the imperfect.
Name these three irregular verbs in the imperfect.
ir a
ver
ser
Recite the conjugations for ver in the imperfect.
ver
yo veía
tú veías
usted veía
él, ella veÍa
nosotros, -as veíamos
ustedes veían
ellos, ellas veían
The conjugation of ser in the Imperfect.
yo era
tú eras
ud., él, ella era
nosotros, -as éramos
uds. ellos, ellas eran
The conjugation of ir a in the Imperfecto.
yo iba a
tú ibas a
ud. él, ella iba a
nosotros, -as íbamos a
uds., ellos, ellas iban a
Identify expression associated with the imperfect that indicate
frecuency of past actions.
Key words such as:
generalmente,
de pequeño, -a,
de niño, -a,
a menudo,
de vez en cuando…
Conjugate vivir in the imperfect.
Give the conjugations in order of their person and number.
(e.g. first person singular, second person singular…)
vivía
vivÍas
(usted, él, ella) vivÍa
vivÍamos
(ustedes, ellos, ellas) vivían
Conjugate practicar in the imperfect.
Give the conjugations by number and person.
(e.g. first person singular, second person singular….)
practicaba
practicabas
(usted, él, ella ) practicaba
practicábamos
(ustedes, ellos, ellas) practicaban
So, what happens if the verb is reflexive?
You must use the reflexive pronoun before the conjugated verb:
yo me
tú te
ud., él, ella se
nosotros, -as nos
uds., ellos, ellas, se
Conjugate the following verb in the Imperfect:
acostarse
me acostaba
te acostabas
se acostaba
nos acostábamos
se acostaban
Are there any stem changing verbs or irregular stem verbs in the Imperfect?
NO!
There aren’t any stem changing verbs nor
any irregular stem verbs in the Imperfect.
THERE ARE ONLY THREE IRREGULAR VERBS:
IR A, SER, VER
If it is not one of these three verbs, then
it must be a regular verb.
Other uses of the Imperfect.
1- to describe people, places, and situations in the past
Marta era muy estudiosa.
Los partidos de Los Rams eran divertidos.
2- to describe the date, time agen and weather in the past.
Hacía mucho calor en Los Angeles.
Eran las tres de la tarde cuando terminaba
la escuela.
