El pretérito imperfecto The Imperfect Past Tense in Spanish

IMPERFECTO The imperfect tense is another past tense, distinct & NOT interchangeable with the preterit.

Los usos del imperfecto Describe past actions without any indication of their beginning or end. Ana estudiaba. Ana was studying. Yo leía mientras que ella concinaba. I was reading while she cooked (was cooking).

Más usos del imperfecto Tell actions that happened repeatedly in the past. In English, we would say “used to” or “would” Caminábamos a escuela. We used to walk to school.

Los verbos –ar Conjugation endings -aba-ábamos -abas-abais -aba-aban

Los verbos –er y -ir Conjugation endings -ía-íamos -ías-íais -ía-ían

¡OJO! La forma de “yo” & “él, ella, Ud.” son identicas.

¡OJO! ♫ ♫ There are NO stem- changes in the imperfect tense.

Los verbos irregulares ONLY three verbs are irregular in the imperfect tense. Ver veía veías veía veíamos veían Ir iba ibas iba íbamos iban Ser era eras era éramos eran

HABERFORMATIEMPOMEANING haypresente there is, there are habíaimperfecto there was, there were hubopretérito there was, there were

The imperfect tense of “hay” (there is, there are) is “había” (there was, there were). Notice this verb is both singular & plural. The preterit form is “hubo” (there was, there were in the sense of “there occurred”).

Las expressiones Expressions that cue use of the imperfect: Generalmente A menudo Muchas veces Todos los dias Siempre Nunca

Unos ejemplos Ferris siempre estaba enfermo. Muchas veces, él no iba a la escuela. Ferris y Cameron tenían divertido todos los veranos.

Escribe en el imperfecto Ferris liked to drive Cameron’s car. A Ferris le gustaba manejar el coche de Cameron. We used to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on the weekends. Nosotros veímos Ferris Bueller’s Day Off los fines de semana.