Imperfect

(Imperfecto)

The imperfect is a past tense form in Spanish that expresses the idea of an ongoing action that habitually ocurred in the past. It's usually equivalent in English to using the past progressive: 'I was working', for example. Since there are two past tense forms in Spanish, to see when you use the imperfect and when you use the preterite, go to the 'Preterite versus imperfect' grammar explanation.

* Forms of the imperfect

Look at the table below to see the forms for the 'AR' and 'ER/IR' verbs in the imperfect.

	-AR verbs ('HABLAR')	-ER/IR verbs ('COMER'/'VIVIR')
yo	-aba ('hablaba')	-ía ('comía'/'vivía')
tú	-abas ('hablabas')	-ías ('comías'/'vivías')
él/ella	-aba ('hablaba')	-ía ('comía'/'vivía')
nosotros/nosotras	-ábamos ('hablábamos')	-íamos ('comíamos'/'vivíamos')
vosotros/vosotras	-abais ('hablabais')	-íais ('comíais'/'vivíais')
ustedes/ellos/ellas	-aban ('hablaban')	-ían ('comía'/'vivían')

Examples:

'Comíamos y bebíamos , mientras él hablaba de política' (= We were eating and drinking, while he talked about politics).

'Cuando no podíamos encontrarlos, ellos estaban en la playa' (= When we couldn't find them, they were at the beach).

* Irregular imperfect forms

There are three irregular imperfect forms. Check them out in the table below.

	SER	IR	VER
yo	era	iba	veía
tú	eras	ibas	veías
él/ella	era	iba	veía
nosotros/nosotras	éramos	íbamos	veíamos
vosotros/vosotras	erais	ibais	veíais
ustedes/ellos/ellas	eran	iban	veían

Examples:

'Yo iba ya al colegio cuando tú eras todavía un bebé' (= I was already going to school when you were still a baby).

'Cuando yo era pequeño, iba con mi mamá al museo y veíamos mucho arte moderno' (= When I was a child, I went to the museum with my mom and we saw a lot of modern art).