The Imperfect Tense:Regular-Irregular Verbs

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Avancemos 3

Preterite

You have already learned to talk about the past using the preterite tense for actions that began and ended at a definite time.

Preterite

Ana cantó en la fiesta anoche.

Ana sang at the party last night.

(Completed past action.)

Imperfect The imperfect tense is

another way to talk about the past. We use it to describe actions without any indication of their beginning or end.

Imperfect

Ana cantaba. Ana was singing. (No indication of beginning

or end.)

Imperfect We use the imperfect to talk

about actions that happened repeatedly in the past. In English we often say “used to” or “would” to express this idea.

Imperfect

Generalmente caminaban mucho.

Generally they would walk a lot.

Imperfect

Jugaban con otros niños de la familia.

They used to play with other children in the family.

Imperfect

Expressions such as generalmente, a menudo, muchas veces, todos los días, siempre, and nunca can cue us to use the imperfect.

Imperfect

Here are all the forms of -ar verbs in the imperfect. Notice the accent mark on the nosotros form.

CAMINAR (to walk)

Yo caminaba

Tú caminabas

Él

Ella caminaba

Ud.

Nos. caminábamos

Vos. caminabais

Ellos

Ellas caminaban

Uds.

Since the yo and the Ud./él/ella forms are the same, we often use the subject pronouns to avoid confusion.

Imperfect

Imperfect

Let’s do a few more verbs.

PATINAR (to skate)

Yo patinaba

Tú patinabas

Él

Ella patinaba

Ud.

Nos. patinábamos

Vos. patinabais

Ellos

Ellas patinaban

Uds.

USAR (to use)

Yo usaba

Tú usabas

Él

Ella usaba

Ud.

Nos. usábamos

Vos. usabais

Ellos

Ellas usaban

Uds.

JUGAR (to play)

Yo jugaba

Tú jugabas

Él

Ella jugaba

Ud.

Nos. jugábamos

Vos. jugabais

Ellos

Ellas jugaban

Uds.

Now we will learn the -er/-ir verb endings in the imperfect tense.

Imperfect

COMER (to eat)

Yo comía

Tú comías

Él

Ella comía

Ud.

Nos. comíamos

Vos. comíais

Ellos

Ellas comían

Uds.

VIVIR (to live)

Yo vivía

Tú vivías

Él

Ella vivía

Ud.

Nos. vivíamos

Vos. vivíais

Ellos

Ellas vivían

Uds.

The Imperfect

There are three irregular verbs in the imperfect. The verbs IR, SER, and VER.

IR

iba

ibas

iba

íbamos

ibais

iban

SER

era

eras

era

éramos

erais

eran

VER

veía

veías

veía

veíamos

veíais

veían

The Imperfect

The imperfect form of hay is había (there was/were, there used to be)

Generalmente, no había muchos participantes en el campeonato.