Español III Capítulo 4A el 19

de diciembre 2014

Realidades 4A

¡El Imperfecto!

1. El Imperfect: Part I

In a previous lesson, you learned that the imperfect is used for past actions that are not seen as completed. Use of the imperfect tense implies that the past action did not have a definite beginning or a definite end. You also learned how to conjugate regular -ar verbs. In this lesson, you will learn how to conjugate -er and -ir verbs, and become more familiar with the uses of the imperfect.

To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the imperfect, simply drop the ending (-ar) and add one of the following:abaabasabaábamosabaisaban

To conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the imperfect, simply drop the ending (-er or -ir) and add one of the following:íaíasíaíamosíaisían

Here are all three regular imperfect verb forms together:hablar comer vivir

hablaba comía vivía

hablabas comías vivías

hablaba comía vivía

hablábamos comíamos vivíamos

hablabais comíais vivíais

hablaban comían vivían

The imperfect is used for actions that were repeated habitually.Almorzábamos juntos todos los días.We would lunch together every day.Las señoras siempre charlaban por las mañanas.The ladies would always chat in the mornings.

The imperfect is used for actions that "set the stage" for another action.Yo leía cuando entró mi papá.I was reading when my papa entered. (note that "entered" is preterite)

The imperfect is used for telling time and stating one's age.Eran las siete de la noche.It was seven o'clock at night.La niña tenía cinco años.The little girl was five years old.

The above examples all fall within our general rule for using the imperfect:

EL IMPERFECTO Part I

The imperfect is used for past actions that are not seen as completed

Something that was happening…Something that happened often…

Imperfect: regular -er -ía-ías-ía-íamos-íais-íancomía, comías, comía, comíamos, comíais, comíanImperfect: regular -ir -ía-ías-ía-íamos-íais-íanvivía, vivías, vivía, vivíamos, vivíais, vivían

More examples of the Imperfect Tense in Spanish

Note that the yo and él forms are identical; if the context leaves ambiguity as to which person was doing the action, be sure to use the pronoun.

Ir, ser, and ver are the only irregular verbs in the imperfecto.

Ir - to goyo iba nosotros íbamos

tú ibas vosotros ibaisél iba ellos iban

Ser - to beyo era nosotros éramos

tú eras vosotros eraisél era ellos eran

Ver - to seeyo veía nosotros veíamos

tú veías vosotros veíais

él veía ellos veían

El pretérito y el imperfecto:

Hablar - to talkyo hablaba nosotros hab

lábamos

tú hablabas vosotros hablabais

él hablaba ellos hablabanComer - to eat

yo comía nosotros comíamos

tú comías vosotros comíaisél comía ellos comían

Vivir - to liveyo vivía nosotros vivíamos

tú vivías vosotros vivíaisél vivía ellos vivían

The usage of the preterite and the imperfect is one of the most difficult aspects of Spanish for an English-speaker. Essentially, both the preterite and the imperfect are past tenses, much as the way "he did" and "he was doing" both express past action in English. The deciding factor between the two tenses is a characteristic of verbs not frequently talked about in English: aspect.

Every action has a beginning, a middle, and an end. When one wishes to focus on the middle of an action, the action is on-going, that is, nothing changes radically (which is not to say that nothing happens). For example, "he was eating" indicates the "middle" of the action of eating in the past. We don't know when he started to eat or when he finished (or even if he finished). We just know that at a certain time in the past, he was in the middle of eating. This focus on the middle of an action is called the imperfective aspect. Not surprisingly, it is associated with the imperfect tense in Spanish, for example:

hablaba I was speaking

viajábamos we used to travel

estaban they were

In each case, there is no notion that the action began or ended, only that at some point it was on-going. Notice, however, that English has three different, common ways

to indicate the imperfect: the past progressive ("was speaking") to show that a single action continued, the "used to" construction to show that a series of separate actions continued, and the simple past, used particularly with verbs that show state of mind or body ("was," "thought," etc.) as ongoing in the past.If the imperfect is used to denote the middle of an action, the preterite is used to indicate the beginning or the end of an action. Sometimes it requires some thought to determine which part of the action is being described. For example, "The telephone rang at 8 last night" sounds like an action that is over and therefore we are describing the end of it. But the point of view is always some point in the past, in this case, at 8 last night. At that time, the telephone began to ring. It wasn't ringing at 7:59, but it very well might have rung until 8:01 or 8:02. When one says, "I shut the door," on the other hand, by the time one says that, the door is already shut; the action has been completed.There are many other ways to describe when one should use the imperfect or the preterite, but all of them are just different ways of describing the aspect of the verb in question. For example, one usually uses the imperfect to describe background (ongoing) actions and states, or something that was going on when another action interrupted. Likewise, the preterite is used to describe a series of discrete actions that occurred in sequence and then were over. Of course, there are always some uses

that do not necessarily fit the rule, such as the fact that one always tells time in the imperfect ("era la una"), and there are even some verbs whose meaning (or at least whose translation) changes when one uses one tense or the other. Here are a few examples; note that the standard meaning is the one reflected by the imperfect:Verb Preterite Imperfect

saber supe - "I found out" sabía - "I knew"

conocer conocí - "I met" conocía - "I knew"

querer quise - "I tried" quería - "I wanted"

In short, to express what was happening, What happened many times-often..... use the IMPERFECTO in SpanishMore Review of the Pretérito

El PretéritoThe Preterite tense is used to indicate a completed action in the past. something that was completed-finished in the past

Verbos regulares

-AR

-é-aste-ó-amos-asteis-aron

Verbos -er e -ir regulares

-í-iste-ió-imos

-isteis-ieron

______________________________________

Verbos irregulares

IRREGULAR CASES IN PRETÉRITO

Case I irregular below

DAR

DiDisteDio

dimos disteisdieron

VER

ViVisteVioVimosVisteisVieron

Case II irregular

Caer

CaíCaíste

CayóCaímosCaísteisCayeron.

OIR

OíOísteOyóOímosOísteisOyeron

CREER

CreíCreíste

CreyóCreímosCreísteisCreyeron

LEER

LeíLeísteLeyóLeímosLeísteisleyeron

Case II also has-

All –uir verbs

ConstruirInfluir.....

Construir

ConstruíConstruísteConstruyóConstruímosConstruísteisConstruyeron

Case III SER AND IR

FuiFuisteFueFuimosFuisteisFueron

Ser

FuíFuisteFuéFuimosFuisteisFueron

JOTA group

Case IV

Jota group

All –cir verbs take the “J”

Decir

DijeDijstedijodijimosdijisteisdijeron

TRAER goes with the case IV verbs

TrajeTrajisteTrajoTrajimosTrajisteisTrajeron

Case V “V” group

ESTAR TENER ANDAR

Estar

ESTUVEESTUVISTEESTUVOESTUVIMOSESTUVISTEISESTUVIERONANDAR

ANDUVEANDUVISTEANDUVOANDUVIMOSANDUVISTEISANDUVIERON

TENER

TUVE

TUVISTE

TUVO

TUVIMOS

TUVISTEIS

TUVIERON

Case VI Los independientes

Poner

PusePusistePusoPusimosPusisteisPusieron

Poder

Pude

Pudiste

Pudo Pudimos Pudisteis Pudieron

VenirVineViniste

VinoVinimosVinisteis

HacerHiceHicisteHizoHicimosHicisteisHicieron

Saber: to know a fact

Not used in conversationIn spoken Spanish it is used to mean “to have found out....!”

Supe SupisteSupoSupimos Supisteissupieron

knowing is a process

Saber- In order to say that you “knew....something” you must use th eimperfect tense form of the verb

SabíaSabíasSabíaSabíamosSabíaissabían

Yo no sabía la respuesta.

Querer - to want

You can not use the preperite form of the verb QUERER since ¨wanting¨ implies an on going sense of desire......

In conversational Spanish you must use the Imperfect form of the conjugation to indicate “wanting...or wanted”

Preterite form of the verb QUERER

QuiseQuisisteQuisoQuisimosQuisisteisQusieron

In spoken Spanish this means to have refused when the word NO comes before each conjugate.Yo no quise ir. I refused to go.

No qusimos ir de compras.We refused to go shopping.

No quiseNo quisisteNo quisoNi quisimosNo quisisteisNo quisieron

To expres “I wanted, you wanted, he/she wanted....”

you must use the imperfect form of the verb querer.

QueríaQueríasQueríaQueríamosQueríaisQuerían

Yo quería estudiar en la biblioteca.I wanted to study in the library.

Dormir

Dormí

Dormiste

Durmió

Dormimos

Dormisteis

Durmieron

PEDIR

Pedí

Pediste

Pidió

Pedimos

Pedisteis

Pidieron

Other e to i stem-changing verbs.....

Servir reir pedir dormir sonrei.........

________________________________________

Case VIII

-Car qué

-Gar GUÉ

-Zar CÉ in the yo form

Tocar

Toqué

Tocaste

Tocó

Tocamos

Tocasteis

tocaron

-GAR verbs

LLEGAR

Llegué

Llegaste

Llegó

Llegamos

Llegasteis

llegaron

-ZAR verbs

Empezar

Empecé

Empezaste

empezó

Empezamos

Empezasteis

empezaron

Don´t forget

HOME JOURNALS

5 to 10 minutes - at least 5 minutes per

night-

Of current lesson in

HOME JOURNALS!!!

Monday-Friday !!!

REVIEW THE VERBS IN THE VERB PACKET!

TAREA

Realidades 4A