Imperfect Past Tense

Pretérito Imperfecto: The Imperfect Past Tense in Spanish

Feb 23, 2025

Tabla de Contenidos

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will learn to form the imperfect past tense with regular verbs, identify the three irregular verbs in the Pretrito Imperfecto, understand the uses of this tense such as describing past habits, providing background information, and narrating actions in progress, as well as differentiate when to use Pretrito Imperfecto versus Pretrito Indefinido when talking about age, time, and weather in the past.

Introduction

The Pretérito Imperfecto (Imperfect Past Tense) is used to describe ongoing past actions, habits, descriptions, and background information. Unlike the Pretérito Indefinido (simple past), which expresses completed actions, the imperfect describes what was happening or used to happen.

Examples
	Spanish	English	Information
	Yo comía.	I was eating. / I used to eat.
	Nosotros jugábamos al fútbol cada sábado.	We used to play soccer every Saturday.

This tense is essential for storytelling and giving context to past events.

Formation

Regular Verb Conjugation

Person	-AR (hablar)	-ER (comer)	-IR (vivir)
Yo	hablaba	comía	vivía
Tú	hablabas	comías	vivías
Él/Ella/Usted	hablaba	comía	vivía
Nosotros/as	hablábamos	comíamos	vivíamos
Vosotros/as	hablabais	comíais	vivíais
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	hablaban	comían	vivían

Examples
	Spanish	English	Information
	Cuando era niño, jugaba en el parque.	When I was a child, I used to play in the park.
	Siempre comíamos en casa de mi abuela los domingos.	We always ate at my grandmother's house on Sundays.

Irregular Verbs in Pretérito Imperfecto

There are only three irregular verbs in this tense:

Person	Ser (to be)	Ir (to go)	Ver (to see)
Yo	era	iba	veía
Tú	eras	ibas	veías
Él/Ella/Usted	era	iba	veía
Nosotros/as	éramos	íbamos	veíamos
Vosotros/as	erais	ibais	veíais
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes	eran	iban	veían

Examples
	Spanish	English	Information
	Cuando éramos pequeños, veíamos muchas películas.	When we were little, we used to watch a lot of movies.
	Yo iba al colegio todos los días en bicicleta.	I rode my bike to school every day.

Usage

1. Describing past habits and repeated actions

Use Pretérito Imperfecto to talk about actions that happened regularly in the past.

Examples
	Spanish	English	Information
	De niño, jugaba con mis amigos todas las tardes.	As a child, I used to play with my friends every afternoon.
	Antes vivíamos en Madrid.	We used to live in Madrid.

2. Descriptions and background information

Use it to describe people, places, emotions, and situations in the past.

Examples
	Spanish	English	Information
	La casa era muy grande y tenía un jardín hermoso.	The house was very big and had a beautiful garden.
	Hacía mucho frío y llovía cuando salimos de casa.	It was very cold, and it was raining when we left the house.

3. Actions in progress in the past

Use Pretérito Imperfecto to describe what was happening at a certain moment.

Examples
	Spanish	English	Information
	Estábamos cenando cuando llegó Juan.	We were having dinner when Juan arrived.
	Llovía mientras caminábamos por la playa.	It was raining while we were walking on the beach.

4. Talking about age, time, and weather in the past

Examples
	Spanish	English	Information
	Tenía cinco años cuando aprendí a nadar.	I was five years old when I learned to swim.
	Eran las ocho de la noche cuando empezó la película.	It was eight o'clock in the evening when the movie started.
	Hacía mucho calor en verano.	It was very hot in summer.

Key Time Expressions

Time Expression	English	Example
Siempre	always	Siempre íbamos a la playa en verano.
Todos los días	every day	Todos los días tomaba café por la mañana.
Cada semana/mes/año	every week/month/year	Cada año visitábamos a mis abuelos.
A menudo	often	A menudo salíamos a pasear por el parque.
Antes	before	Antes estudiaba en la universidad.
Mientras	while	Mientras yo cocinaba, mi hermano veía la televisión.
De niño/a	as a child	De niño, me gustaba dibujar.
En aquella época	at that time	En aquella época, no había internet.

vs. Pretérito Indefinido

Many Spanish learners struggle to choose between Pretérito Imperfecto and Pretérito Indefinido. Here's a simple rule:

Pretérito Imperfecto (Background, habits, ongoing past)
Pretérito Indefinido (Completed actions)

Examples
Spanish	English	Information
Cuando era niño, jugaba al fútbol.	When I was a child, I used to play soccer.	Imperfecto - describes a habitual action in the past
Ayer jugué al fútbol.	Yesterday, I played soccer.	Indefinido - single, completed action with specific time reference
Hacía sol y la gente paseaba por el parque.	It was sunny, and people were walking in the park.	Imperfecto - describes background conditions and ongoing action
El sol salió y la gente empezó a pasear.	The sun came out, and people started to walk.	Indefinido - specific events that occurred and completed
Mientras estudiaba, mi madre cocinaba.	While I was studying, my mother was cooking.	Imperfecto - two ongoing actions happening simultaneously
Estudié por dos horas y después cené.	I studied for two hours and then had dinner.	Indefinido - sequence of completed actions with clear duration

Summary

The Pretérito Imperfecto is used for past habits, descriptions, and ongoing actions. Regular verbs follow the endings -aba/-ía, and there are only three irregular verbs (ser, ir, ver). This tense is commonly used with time expressions like siempre, antes, mientras, de niño/a. It contrasts with Pretérito Indefinido, which is used for specific completed past events.

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