Capítulo 4A El Imperfecto – Conjugación

There are 2 past tenses in Spanish:  Preterite Ayer caminé al mercado. Ayer caminé al mercado.  Imperfect Cada día caminaba al mercado.

 Preterite – expresses completed past actions: Ayer caminé al mercado. Ayer caminé al mercado.  Imperfect – expresses the past, but does not indicate specifically when the event or condition began or ended: Cada día caminaba al mercado.

Los verbos regulares

-ar verbs  -aba  -abas  -aba  -ábamos  -abais  -aban The first and third person are alike. Subject pronouns can be used for clarification.

llevar – to carry, wear  llevaba – I wore, was wearing, used to / would wear  llevabas – you wore, were wearing, used to wear  llevaba – he, she, you polite wore, was or were wearing / used to wear  llevábamos – we wore, were wearing / used to wear  llevabais – you wore, were wearing / used to wear  llevaban – they or you wore, were wearing / used to wear. El chico llevaba una chaqueta.

-er and –ir verbs  - ía  - ías  - ía  - íamos  - íais  - ían The first and third person are alike. Subject pronouns can be used for clarification.

volver- to return  volvía – I returned, was returning, used to / would return  volvías  volvía  volvíamos  volvíais  volvían Los vecinos volvían tarde. * Notice that the “o” in volver does not stem–change.

dormirse – to fall asleep  me dormía – I fell asleep, was falling asleep, used to/would fall asleep  te dormías  se dormía  nos dormíamos  os dormíais  se dormían  Yo siempre me dormía antes de las nueve. The verbs that are reflexive will continue to be reflexive in the imperfect tense.

The imperfect tense is used to express: 1.Ongoing past action 2.Repeated, habitual action 3.Long standing situation

1. ongoing past action  Miraban la televisión cuando Paco llamó.  They were watching TV when Paco called.  Escribía una carta cuando saliste.  I was writing a letter when you left. The imperfect tense is used to express:

2. repeated or habitual action  Siempre comíamos en esa restaurante.  We always ate / used to eat / would eat at that restaurant.  Tomaba café todos los días.  I drank / used to drink / would drink coffee every day.

3. long-standing situation  Vivía en Costa Rica.  I lived, used to, was living in Costa Rica.  Estudiaba en ese colegio.  I studied, used to, was studying at that school.

The imperfect verb había (haber) is the past tense of hay and equivalent to:  There was  There were  Había un mexicano en la clase.  Había dos montañas rusas en el parque. Does not change for the plural.

Ahora clase, vamos a practicar. Ciao.