1. Regular verbs

* For verbs ending in -AR, the endings are:-aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, abais, aban

Example with the verb HABLAR (To speak):

Yo hablaba
Tu hablabas
Él/Ella/Usted Hablaba
Nosotros Hablábamos
Vosotros Hablabais
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes Hablaban

* For verbs ending in -IR and -ER, the endings are: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían

Example with the verb COMER (to eat):

Yo comía
Tu comías
Él/Ella/Usted comía
Nosotros comíamos
Vosotros comíais
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes comían

2. Irregular verbs

There are only 3 irregular verbs in the imperfect tense of the indicative. These verbs are :

SER (To be) ==> Era, Eras, Era, Éramos, Erais, Eran
IR (T o go) ==> Iba, Ibas, Iba, Íbamos, Ibais, Iban
VER (To see) ==> Veía, Veías, Veía, Veíamos, Veíais, Veían

II. Use of the imperfect tense of the indicative

Exactly as in English, the imperfect tense is used to :

* Talk about repetitive actions in the past

Example :

Cada domingo iba a jugar el tenis ==> Every Sunday I went to play tennis.

* Narrate and describe past events

Example :

Había una vez, un príncipe y una princesa que vivían en un castillo grande… ==> Once upon a time, there was a prince and a princess who lived in a big castle…

* Describe an action that is interrupted by another

Example :

Cuando estaba en clase, entró una persona ==> When I was in class, a person came in.

👉 Practice now!

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👉 Previous lesson: The Present Perfect

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