Pretérito imperfecto

Two past tenses

Three main uses

Examples of the three uses

• Era alto y tenía el pelo rubio.He was tall and had blond hair. (description)
• Hacía frío y llovía mucho.It was cold and raining hard. (weather, setting)
• De niño jugaba al fútbol todos los días.As a child I played football every day. (habit)
• Antes vivíamos en Madrid.We used to live in Madrid. (before, but not any more)
• Dormía cuando sonó el teléfono.I was sleeping when the phone rang. (background + event)
• Llovía cuando salimos.It was raining when we went out. (background + event)

Important: state verbs (ser, estar, tener, querer, saber, poder, haber) are almost always in the imperfecto in descriptions of the past, not in the indefinido. The list and the exceptions are in the “Contrast” tab.

Polite requests: the imperfecto softens a wish, like English “I’d like”: Quería un café, por favor. · Quería preguntar una cosa.

-ar endings: -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban. -er / -ir endings are the same: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. The stress on “a” and “í” is the key to the form. Switch between the groups on each card.

Endings

Model verbs

Common verbs

Good news: -er and -ir verbs share the same endings, and the whole language has only three irregular verbs in the imperfecto — ser, ir, ver. Even verbs that are irregular in the present are regular here: tener → tenía, poder → podía, hacer → hacía.

Written accents: -ar verbs have an accent only in the nosotros form (hablábamos); -er / -ir verbs have it in every form (comía, comíamos). The yo and él / ella forms are the same (hablaba), so add the pronoun when it is unclear who is acting.

The three irregular verbs — ser, ir, ver — just need to be memorised. Ver keeps the “e” of its stem: veía, not “vía”.

The three irregular verbs

Compare with the Indefinido

Ser and ir are different in the imperfecto (era / iba) but identical in the indefinido (fui). Haber meaning “there is / there are” is regular too: hay → había — one form for singular and plural.

Ser, ir, ver in use

• De niña era muy tímida.As a child I was very shy.
• Todos los veranos íbamos al pueblo.Every summer we went to the village.
• ¿Adónde ibas tan deprisa?Where were you going in such a hurry?
• Antes veíamos muchas series juntos.We used to watch a lot of series together.
• Desde la ventana se veía el mar.You could see the sea from the window.
• En la plaza había mucha gente.There were a lot of people in the square.

Imperfecto or Indefinido

Examples in pairs

• Vivía en París.I lived in Paris. (description, background)
• Se mudó a París.He moved to Paris. (a moment, a change)
• Comía pizza los viernes.I used to eat pizza on Fridays. (regularly)
• Comí pizza el viernes.I ate pizza on Friday. (one specific time)
• Leía un libro cuando llegó María.I was reading a book (background) when María arrived (event).

Background and event

State verbs

Four verbs

A change of meaning

• Ya sabía la verdad.I already knew the truth.
• Ayer supe la verdad.Yesterday I found out the truth.
• Quería llamarte, pero no tenía tu número.I wanted to call you, but I didn’t have your number.
• Quise abrir la puerta, pero estaba cerrada con llave.I tried to open the door, but it was locked.
• No podíamos dormir por el ruido.We couldn’t sleep because of the noise.
• Por fin pudimos dormir un poco.At last we managed to get a little sleep.

Markers

Mientras is almost always followed by the imperfecto: two actions run at the same time, as background. Cuando works with both tenses — check whether it is background or an event.

A marker is a hint, not a law. Even ayer can go with the imperfecto when it describes the background: Ayer llovía cuando salí. — “It was raining yesterday when I went out.”

Regular verbs in use

• Mi padre trabajaba en un banco.My father worked at a bank.
• ¿Dónde vivíais antes?Where did you live before?
• Los domingos comíamos en casa de los abuelos.On Sundays we had lunch at our grandparents’.

Description

• La casa de mis abuelos tenía un jardín enorme.My grandparents’ house had a huge garden.
• El hotel estaba cerca de la playa y era muy barato.The hotel was near the beach and was very cheap.
• Eran las diez de la noche y todavía hacía calor.It was ten at night and still hot.

Habit

• En la universidad estudiabais por la noche, ¿verdad?At university you studied at night, didn’t you?
• Mi madre nos leía un cuento cada noche.My mother read us a story every night.
• Antes fumaba, pero ya no.I used to smoke, but not any more.

Background and politeness

• Mientras yo cocinaba, los niños veían la tele.While I was cooking, the kids were watching TV.
• Íbamos por la autopista cuando se pinchó una rueda.We were driving on the motorway when we got a flat tyre.
• ¿Qué hacías cuando te llamé?What were you doing when I called you?
• Quería un café con leche, por favor.I’d like a white coffee, please.

A mini story with both tenses

Era una noche tranquila. Llovía y hacía frío. Yo estaba en casa y leía un libro cuando, de repente, sonó el teléfono. Me levanté, contesté y escuché la voz de mi amigo.

Italics mark the imperfecto (background), bold marks the indefinido (events).

The story line by line

• Era una noche tranquila. Llovía y hacía frío.It was a quiet night. It was raining and it was cold.
• Yo estaba en casa y leía un libro cuando, de repente, sonó el teléfono.I was at home reading a book when suddenly the phone rang.
• Me levanté, contesté y escuché la voz de mi amigo.I got up, answered and heard my friend’s voice.