The imperfect tense (el pretérito imperfecto) describes past habitual actions or sets the scene in the past. It focuses on the ongoing nature of an action, not its completion.
When to use it
Habitual or repeated actions in the past
Cuando era niño, jugaba al fútbol
When I was a child, I used to play soccer
Descriptions of people, places, and situations in the past
La casa era grande y tenía un jardín
The house was big and had a garden
Telling time and age in the past
Eran las tres de la tarde
It was three in the afternoon
Actions in progress that were interrupted
Yo leía cuando él entró
I was reading when he entered
Regular endings
| -ar | -er | -ir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -aba | -ía | -ía |
| tú | -abas | -ías | -ías |
| él | -aba | -ía | -ía |
| nos. | -ábamos | -íamos | -íamos |
| vos. | -abais | -íais | -íais |
| ellos | -aban | -ían | -ían |
Irregular verbs
Completely Irregular
Irregular Form
Frequently asked
The imperfect tense (el pretérito imperfecto) describes past habitual actions or sets the scene in the past. It focuses on the ongoing nature of an action, not its completion. The main cases are habitual or repeated actions in the past, descriptions of people, places, and situations in the past, telling time and age in the past and actions in progress that were interrupted. For example: Cuando era niño, jugaba al fútbol — When I was a child, I used to play soccer.
Regular verbs take: -ar: yo -aba, tú -abas, él -aba, nos. -ábamos, vos. -abais, ellos -aban; -er: yo -ía, tú -ías, él -ía, nos. -íamos, vos. -íais, ellos -ían; -ir: yo -ía, tú -ías, él -ía, nos. -íamos, vos. -íais, ellos -ían.
The most common ones are ser, estar, tener, hacer, poder, decir, haber and ir. Each has its own conjugation table with the full set of forms.
The pretérito imperfecto sits at A2 — Elementary, and Verboteca practice is free at A1. The rule, the tables and the examples on this page stay readable without a subscription or an account.
Every verb form becomes a card that comes back right before you would forget it.
