Purpose
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to conjugate regular and the three irregular verbs in the imperfect tense.
Lesson Explanation
Where the preterite (previous lesson) marks a completed action, the imperfect describes ongoing, habitual, or background actions in the past — genuinely closer to English “used to” or “was …ing.”
-AR verbs: hablaba, hablabas, hablaba, hablábamos, hablabais, hablaban. -ER/-IR verbs share identical endings: comía, comías, comía, comíamos, comíais, comían.
A genuinely rare and useful fact: the imperfect has only THREE irregular verbs in all of Spanish — ser, ir, and ver: ser: era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran. ir: iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban. ver: veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían.
Examples: Cuando era niño, jugaba en el parque todos los días. (When I was a child, I used to play in the park every day.) Note both verbs here are imperfect, describing an ongoing state and a habitual action — a pairing genuinely typical of imperfect usage, and directly relevant to the tense-choice rules covered in the next lesson.
Practice Questions
1. What kind of past actions does the imperfect describe, in contrast to the preterite?
View Answer
Ongoing, habitual, or background actions.
2. What two English phrases is the imperfect genuinely closest to?
View Answer
“Used to” and “was …ing.”
3. Conjugate “hablar” in the imperfect for “yo.”
View Answer
Hablaba.
4. Conjugate “comer” in the imperfect for “yo.”
View Answer
Comía.
5. Do -er and -ir verbs share identical imperfect endings?
View Answer
Yes.
6. How many irregular verbs exist in the imperfect tense, total?
View Answer
Three — ser, ir, and ver.
7. Conjugate “ser” in the imperfect for “yo.”
View Answer
Era.
8. Conjugate “ir” in the imperfect for “yo.”
View Answer
Iba.
9. Conjugate “ver” in the imperfect for “yo.”
View Answer
Veía.
10. Write “When I was a child,” using the imperfect of ser.
View Answer
Cuando era niño.
11. Conjugate “hablar” in the imperfect for “nosotros.”
View Answer
Hablábamos.
12. In the example about playing in the park, why are both verbs imperfect?
View Answer
Because both describe an ongoing state and a habitual action.