Difference between revisions of "Language/Spanish/Grammar/Imperfect-Tense"
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'''Note #2:''' This verbal tense is one of the most difficults verbal tenses in Spanish because it doesn't exist in english and you can't always think of "used to". When you reach a high level in Spanish, you'll ALWAYS need to listen to people speaking Spanish and then, you won't realize when you learned to use it. Practice a lot. | '''Note #2:''' This verbal tense is one of the most difficults verbal tenses in Spanish because it doesn't exist in english and you can't always think of "used to". When you reach a high level in Spanish, you'll ALWAYS need to listen to people speaking Spanish and then, you won't realize when you learned to use it. Practice a lot. | ||
Revision as of 15:40, 23 April 2017
In Spanish, Imperfect Tense in used when you want to talk about actions that were habits and/or you did in the past but now you don't. In English, it could be simple past, "used to" or was/were+ing.
It is also used to express feelings or states of mind.
As you know, you need to conjugate the verbs.
Verbs ending in "Ar"
If you want to conjugate a verb ending in "ar", you need to erase "ar" and put the corresponding ending with the subject. The next table shows you how you can conjugate using the verb "to dream" as example.
| Subject | Ending | Soñar |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | aba | Soñaba |
| Tú | abas | Soñabas |
| Él/Ella/Usted | aba | Soñaba |
| Nosotros/Nosotras | ábamos | Soñábamos |
| Vosotros/Vosotras | abais | Soñabais |
| Ustedes/Ellos/Ellas | aban | Soñaban |
Note #1: if you can use "used to" you can use imperfect tense but remember "used to" is also "soler"
Example
- Mis amigos y yo siempre jugábamos en el parque al salir de la escuela (my friends and I always played in the park after leaving the school/my friends and I always used to play...)
Verbs ending in "Er" and "Ir"
If you want to conjugate a regular verb ending in "er" or "ir", you need to erase "er" or "ir" and put the corresponding ending with the subject. The next table shows you how you can conjugate using the verb "to sew" as example.
| Subject | Ending | Coser | Sonreír |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | ía | Cosía | Sonreía |
| Tú | ías | Cosías | Sonreías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | ía | Cosía | Sonreía |
| Nosotros/Nosotras | íamos | Cosíamos | Sonreíamos |
| Vosotros/Vosotras | íais | Cosíais | Sonreíais |
| Ustedes/Ellos/Ellas | ían | Cosían | Sonreían |
Example
- Yo comía chocolate todos los días (I ate chocolate everyday/I used to eat chocolate everyday)
Some Irregular Verbs
Remember some irregular verbs in spanish change its base form and use the same endings, but some of them don't. The next table will show you some irregular verbs and how you can conjugate to see, to be and to go.
| Subject | Ver | Ser | Ir |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | Veía | Era | Iba |
| Tú | Veías | Eras | Ibas |
| Él/Ella/Usted | Veía | Era | Iba |
| Nosotros/Nosotras | Veíamos | Éramos | Íbamos |
| Vosotros/Vosotras | Veíais | Erais | Íbais |
| Ustedes/Ellos/Ellas | Veían | Eran | Iban |
Note #2: This verbal tense is one of the most difficults verbal tenses in Spanish because it doesn't exist in english and you can't always think of "used to". When you reach a high level in Spanish, you'll ALWAYS need to listen to people speaking Spanish and then, you won't realize when you learned to use it. Practice a lot.