Imperfect Tense Spanish: Ultimate Guide With Conjugation Explanation And Examples – El Pretérito Imperfecto
El Pretérito Imperfecto or imperfect tense Spanish as you could say it in English. It’s one of the past tenses used in Spanish.
In this blog post, we’ll go in-depth with imperfect tense Spanish, and explain everything there is to know about this Spanish grammar topic. To give you an easy, effortless answer, here it is:
Effortless Answers
The imperfect tense in Spanish (el pretérito imperfecto) is used to talk about actions that were ongoing or habitual in the past. Imperfect tense Spanish often adds a sense of background information, describing the scene or past conditions and situations.
Spring Spanish – that’s a project I co-founded – made a great video on this grammar topic. Here’s how you can learn the imperfect tense Spanish with chunks:
Chunks are immensely useful whatever you’re learning, and we’ll explore this aspect of learning Spanish tenses in this blog post. Let’s find answers to FAQ!
1. What is imperfect tense Spanish?
Without repeating our Effortless Answers section, just stating the obvious:
The imperfect tense in Spanish is used for actions that have been ongoing in the past.
You can use the pretértio imperfecto for:
- Ongoing Actions: “Cuando era niño, jugaba al fútbol todos los días.” (When I was a child, I used to play soccer every day.)
- Habitual Actions: “Cada verano, íbamos a la playa.” (Every summer, we used to go to the beach.)
- Background Description: “Era un día soleado y todos estaban felices.” (It was a sunny day, and everyone was happy.)
- Time and Age: “Tenía diez años.” (I was ten years old.) or “Eran las tres de la tarde.” (It was three in the afternoon.)
Don’t worry if you don’t understand it fully yet, we’re here to explain it! Let’s start with a funny little equation on how to form the Spanish imperfect tense.
2. How to form the Spanish imperfect tense?
Hopefully, this equation will help you in understanding the imperfect tense systematically:
Verb Stem + Imperfect Endings For -AR verbs (-aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban) = Imperfect Tense Spanish
or
Verb Stem + Imperfect Endings For -ER/-IR verbs (-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían) = Imperfect Tense Spanish
Easy, right?
Okay, it might not be that simple, because with these equations a little bit of maths is involved, so let’s go solo with different regular verb endings.
Conjugate regular verbs in Spanish imperfect past tense
Just like you might be able to understand from the equation, you can see that the imperfect tense Spanish is formed differently based on which regular verb ending we’re talking about.
Regular verb endings for -AR verbs
| Pronoun | Ending |
|---|---|
| yo | -ía |
| tú | -ías |
| él/ella/usted | -ía |
| nosotros/nosotras | -íamos |
| vosotros/vosotras | -íais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | -ían |
Regular verb endings for -ER/-IR verbs
| Pronoun | Ending |
|---|---|
| yo | -ía |
| tú | -ías |
| él/ella/usted | -ía |
| nosotros/nosotras | -íamos |
| vosotros/vosotras | -íais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | -ían |
Use of the imperfect tense with irregular verbs
The easy part is over. But what about irregular verbs in the imperfect tense?
Don’t worry too much! Although you definitely have to learn these irregular verbs, you can do that with Conversation Based Chunking. And that method is there to help you every step you take on your language learning journey.
If you’re interested in it, you can request your first FREE Spanish Chunking Starter Pack right now!
There are only 3 irregular verbs used in imperfect tense Spanish:
Ir (to go) in imperfect tense Spanish
| Subject Pronoun | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| yo | iba |
| tú | ibas |
| él/ella/usted | iba |
| nosotros/nosotras | íbamos |
| vosotros/vosotras | ibais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | iban |
Ser (to be) in imperfect tense Spanish
| Subject Pronoun | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| yo | era |
| tú | eras |
| él/ella/usted | era |
| nosotros/nosotras | éramos |
| vosotros/vosotras | erais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | eran |
Ver (to see) in imperfect tense Spanish
| Subject Pronoun | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| yo | veía |
| tú | veías |
| él/ella/usted | veía |
| nosotros/nosotras | veíamos |
| vosotros/vosotras | veíais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | veían |
3. When to use the imperfect tense in Spanish?
We already mentioned some cases when and where you could use imperfect tense Spanish, but there are far more use cases actually.
So, let’s see it together with examples!
Using imperfect for continuous actions in the Past
The imperfect tense is used to describe actions that were ongoing or in progress at a specific time in the past.
Example:
- “Estaba leyendo un libro.” (I was reading a book.)
Imperfect tense Spanish for repeated actions in the past
It is also used to express actions that were habitual or repeated over time in the past.
Example:
- “Cada verano íbamos al campo.” (Every summer we used to go to the countryside.)
Mental states in pretérito imperfecto
The imperfect tense is used to describe mental states, feelings, or thoughts in the past, as these are often ongoing or not completed at a specific moment.
Example:
- “Tenía miedo de la oscuridad.” (I was afraid of the dark.) or “Pensaba que era una buena idea.” (I thought it was a good idea.)
General descriptions of the past using imperfecto
The imperfect is also used to add background information or general descriptions about people, places, or situations in the past.
Example:
- “La casa era grande y tenía un jardín hermoso.” (The house was large and had a beautiful garden.)
When you’re talking about age-related terms
The imperfect is used to talk about someone’s age in the past, as age is typically considered an ongoing state.
Example:
- “Cuando tenía cinco años, aprendí a andar en bicicleta.” (When I was five years old, I learned to ride a bike.)
Telling time using imperfect tense in Spanish
The imperfect tense is used to tell time in the past.
Example:
- “Eran las ocho de la mañana.” (It was eight in the morning.)
Use imperfect in Spanish when one action interrupts another action
The imperfect can describe actions that are interrupted by another action, where the ongoing action is in the imperfect, and the interrupting action is typically in the preterite tense.
Example:
- “Estaba caminando cuando empezó a llover.” (I was walking when it started to rain.)
If you want, you can learn more about the preterite vs imperfect difference on our blog.
Future in the past? Imperfecto is your solution!
The imperfect can also be used to express a future action from the perspective of the past. This is less common but can be found in indirect statements about what someone expected to happen.
Example:
- “Dijo que vendría a la fiesta.” (He said that he would come to the party.)
4. Practice imperfect tense Spanish
Fill in the blanks with the correct form of imperfect tense in Spanish!
This was just a sneak peek! You can practice more if you want to: just click the button here, and we’ll give you full practice worksheets!
5. Learn imperfect past tense in Spanish with Conversation Based Chunking
You can learn the imperfect tense Spanish or the three irregular verbs connected to it by remembering the definitions by heart.
Or… you can learn the Spanish language with a revolutionary method that will help you not just to form the imperfect tense, talk about past actions, but will help you get conversation in Spanish altogether.
How?
Conversation Based Chunking is a method that will help you conjugate a regular verb or help you explain things that happened in the past by immersion and using lexical chunks. Lexical chunks are what native speakers use all the time, and what you also use in your native language – without even realizing it!
This approach is all about teaching you how you can learn with the help of the most common Spanish phrases without actually learning the boring grammar stuff. If you’re interested, sign up now, and we’ll teach you not just this tense but other useful tenses in Spanish.
