Spanish Imperfect Tense

Pretérito Imperfecto

The Spanish Imperfect Tense is used to describe past habits, ongoing actions, repeated events, background information, and situations without a clear beginning or end.

Quick Tip

Use the Imperfect to talk about what things were like or what used to happen, not completed actions. If an action has no specific ending or is part of the background of a story, the Imperfect is usually the correct choice.

Formación / Formation

-AR Verbs (Ej: Hablar)

Yo	hablaba
Tú	hablabas
Él/Ella/Ud.	hablaba
Nosotros	hablábamos
Vosotros	hablabais
Ellos/Uds.	hablaban

-ER / -IR Verbs (Ej: Comer/Vivir)

Yo	comía / vivía
Tú	comías / vivías
Él/Ella/Ud.	comía / vivía
Nosotros	comíamos / vivíamos
Vosotros	comíais / vivíais
Ellos/Uds.	comían / vivían

Irregular Verbs (Only 3!)

Pronoun	Ser	Ir	Ver
Yo	era	iba	veía
Tú	eras	ibas	veías
Él/Ella	era	iba	veía
Nosotros	éramos	íbamos	veíamos
Vosotros	erais	ibais	veíais
Ellos	eran	iban	veían

Cuándo Usar / When to Use

Habitual Actions

Actions that happened regularly in the past.

De niño, jugaba al fútbol todos los días. As a child, I used to play soccer every day.

Ongoing Actions

Actions that were in progress or interrupted by another.

Estudiaba cuando llamaste. I was studying when you called.

Descriptions

Background info: people, places, weather, feelings.

Hacía buen tiempo y el cielo estaba nublado. The weather was nice and the sky was cloudy.

States of Being

Mental or physical states in the past.

Cuando era joven, era muy tímido. When I was young, I was very shy.

Expresiones con Imperfecto

Common Daily Expressions

Siempre me levantaba temprano. I always used to get up early.
No solía tener ganas de salir. I usually didn’t feel like going out.
Me daba igual lo que pasaba. I didn’t care what was happening.
Nos veíamos cada semana. We used to see each other every week.
Ella estaba cansada todo el tiempo. She was tired all the time.

Less-Known & Important

Me costaba entender las matemáticas. It was hard for me to understand math.
Me daba cuenta de que siempre repetía. I realized I always repeated the same.
Lo pasábamos bien en verano. We used to have a good time in summer.
Se suponía que era fácil. It was supposed to be easy.
Me parecía interesante la historia. History seemed interesting to me.

Diferencia Clave / Key Difference

Imperfecto

Uso: Contexto, hábito, descripción sin fin claro.

"Siempre comíamos juntos."

(We always ate together.)

Pretérito Indefinido

Uso: Acción puntual, específica y terminada.

"Ayer comimos juntos."

(Yesterday we ate together.)