Regular verbs.

1
Regular verbs.
The imperfect tense 8
The imperfect tense is quite easy to form and has
very few irregular parts. There are only two
sets of endings to learn and only three irregular
verbs. Formation of the imperfect tense Take
the following steps 1. Take the infinitive of
the verb you wish to use. 2. Take off the -AR,
-ER or -IR. 3. Add the endings. -AR endings
-aba -abas -aba -ábamos -abais -aban. -ER / IR
endings -ía -ías -ía -íamos -íais -ían.
2
The imperfect tense 9
All regular -AR verbs are formed in the following
way
aba

I talked, I was talking, I used to talk.
abas
You talked, you were talking, you used to talk.
aba
He / she / it talked, was talking, used to talk.
ábamos
We talked, we were talking, we used to talk.
abais
You talked, you were talking, you used to talk.
They talked, they were talking, they used to talk
aban
3
The imperfect tense 10
All regular -ER and -IR verbs are formed in the
following way.
ía
I ate, I was eating, I used to eat.

ías
You ate, you were eating, you used to eat.
ía
He / she / it ate, was eating, used to eat.
íamos
We ate, we were eating, we used to eat.
íais
You ate, you were eating, you used to eat.
ían
They ate, they were eating, they used to eat.
4
The imperfect tense 11
ía
I opened, was opening, I used to open
ías
You opened, were opening, you used to open.
ía
He / she/ it / opened, was opening, used to open.
íamos
We opened, we were opening, we used to open.
íais
You opened, you were opening, you used to open.
ían
They opened, they were opening, they used to open.
5
The imperfect tense 12
The good news about the imperfect tense is that
all of the verbs except three are regular. The
three irregular verbs are SER, IR and VER.
VER to see veía I saw, used to see.
veías you saw, used to see. veía
he / she / it saw, used to see. veíamos we
saw, used to see. veíais you saw, used to
see. veían they saw, used to see. leer
to read also does this. leía I read, used to
read
SER to be era I was, used to be. eras
you were, used to be. era he / she
/ it was, used to be. éramos we were, used to
be. erais you were, used to be. eran
they were, used to be.
IR to go iba I went, used to go. ibas
you went, used to go. iba he / she
/ it went, used to go. íbamos we went, used to
go. ibais you went, used to go. iban
they went, used to go.
6
The imperfect tense 13
To summarise The imperfect tense is used for
descriptions in the past and the meaning of the
imperfect tense can change according to context
and use.
(Yo) Iba a Madrid. Could mean 1. I went to
Madrid. Repeated action. 2. I was
going to Madrid. Action begun in past
and probably going
to be interrupted by another
event. 3. I used to go to Madrid. Frequent
action 4. I would go to Madrid. Frequent
action
7
The imperfect tense 14
Change the verb in brackets to the imperfect
tense.

• 1 Yo (ir) ___a menudo al centro de la ciudad.
• 2 Tú no (levantarse) ___________ nunca antes de
  las doce.
• 3 Ana (telefonear) __________ a su madre cada
  día.
• Yo (comer) _____ cuando el teléfono sonó.
• Nosotros (jugar) _________ al fútbol en el
  parque.
• Ustedes (comer) _______ ensalada con todas las
  comidas.
• Ella (bañarse) _________ cuando alguien llamó a
  la puerta.
• 8 El niño siempre (abrir) ____ la nevera.
• 9 Roberto nunca (escoger) ______ el mismo libro
  que María.
• Yo (leer) ___ el mapa mientras mi padre
  (conducir)________.
• 11 (Empezar) _________ a nevar cuando nos
  pusimos en camino.
• 12 Nosotros siempre (llegar) _________ temprano.

iba
te levantabas
telefoneaba
comía
jugábamos
comían
se bañaba
abría
escogía
leía
conducía
Empezaba
llegábamos
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