Imperfect: forms and uses

What it is

The imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) shows the past from the inside: what used to happen, what people and things were like, what was going on. Cuando era niña, vivía en un pueblo. It is the tense of memories and descriptions.

How to form it

Take off -ar, -er, -ir and add these endings; -er and -ir verbs share them.

The yo and él forms are identical, so add the subject when it isn't clear: yo hablaba, ella hablaba. All -er/-ir forms carry an accent on the í; among the -ar forms, only hablábamos does.

Only three irregular verbs:

There are no stem changes: pensaba, podía, dormía, quería. Hay becomes había.

When to use it

• Habits, what used to happen: Todos los domingos comíamos en casa de mis tíos. Often with antes, de pequeño, cuando era niño, siempre, todos los días, or with soler: Solía caminar mucho.
• Descriptions of people, places and things: Mi abuelo era alto y tenía los ojos verdes.
• Time, age and weather: Eran las once. Tenía diez años. Hacía frío.
• Situations in progress: Mi mamá cantaba mientras cocinaba.
• Then vs now: Antes fumaba, ya no fumo.

• Cuando era niña, vivía en un pueblo.When I was a girl, I lived in a village.ser → era
• Todos los domingos comíamos con mis tíos.Every Sunday we ate with my aunt and uncle.habit
• Eran las once y hacía frío.It was eleven and it was cold.time, weather

Contrasts and traps

• One finished event takes the preterite (El domingo comí con mis tíos); a repeated one, the imperfect (Los domingos comía con mis tíos). The next topic puts both together.
• Iba comes from ir, era from ser: Iba a la escuela (I went), Era estudiante (I was).
• Había (there was, there were) never goes plural: Había muchas personas.

If you also speak Portuguese

The imperfect is your easiest tense: falava → hablaba, comia → comía, era → era. Just watch the spelling: b in hablaba and iba, the accent in comía and éramos, and íamos → íbamos.