The Imperfect Tense: Regular Verbs

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The Imperfect TenseRegular Verbs
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Preterite

• You have already learned to talk about the past
  using the preterite tense for actions that began
  and ended at a definite time.

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Preterite

• Ana cantó en la fiesta anoche.
• Ana sang at the party last night.
• (Completed past action.)

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Imperfect

• The imperfect tense is another way to talk about
  the past. We use it to describe actions without
  any indication of their beginning or end.

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Imperfect

• Ana cantaba.
• Ana was singing.
• (No indication of beginning or end.)

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Imperfect

• We use the imperfect to talk about actions that
  happened repeatedly in the past, or habitual past
  actions. In English we often say used to or
  would to express this idea.

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Imperfect

• Generalmente caminaban mucho.
• Generally they would walk a lot.

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Imperfect

• Jugaban con otros niños de la familia.
• They used to play with other children in the
  family.

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Imperfect

• Expressions such as generalmente, a menudo,
  muchas veces, todos los días, siempre, and nunca
  can cue us to use the imperfect.

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• The imperfect tense may also be used for
• Describing physical conditions or characteristics
  of people in the past María era muy popular.
• Time or age in the past Ana tenía 15 años. Eran
  las tres y media.

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Here are the endings for the AR verbs
Yo aba Tú abas Él Ella aba Ud.
Nosotros ábamos Ellos Ellas aban Uds.
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Here are the endings for the ER -IR verbs
Yo ía Tú ías Él Ella ía Ud.
Nosotros íamos Ellos Ellas ían Uds.
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Imperfect

• Lets practice the forms of
• -ar verbs in the imperfect. Notice the accent
  mark on the nosotros form.

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CAMINAR (to walk)

• Yo caminaba
• Tú caminabas
• Él
• Ella caminaba
• Ud.

• Nos. caminábamos
• Ellos
• Ellas caminaban
• Uds.

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Imperfect

• Since the yo and the Ud./él/ella forms
  are the same, we often use the subject pronouns
  to avoid confusion.

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USAR (to use)

• Yo usaba
• Tú usabas
• Él
• Ella usaba
• Ud.

• Nos. usábamos
• Ellos
• Ellas usaban
• Uds.

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JUGAR (to play)

• Yo jugaba
• Tú jugabas
• Él
• Ella jugaba
• Ud.

• Nos. jugábamos
• Ellos
• Ellas jugaban
• Uds.

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Imperfect

• Now lets practice the -er/-ir verb endings in
  the imperfect tense.

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COMER (to eat)

• Yo comía
• Tú comías
• Él
• Ella comía
• Ud.

• Nos. comíamos
• Ellos
• Ellas comían
• Uds.

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VIVIR (to live)

• Yo vivía
• Tú vivías
• Él
• Ella vivía
• Ud.

• Nos. vivíamos
• Ellos
• Ellas vivían
• Uds.

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• Irregular Verbs in the Imperfect
• ser ir ver
• era iba veía
• eras ibas veías
• era iba veía
• éramos íbamos veíamos
• eran iban veían

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The imperfect form of hay is había (there was
there were there used to be). Like hay, había
can be followed by a singular or plural
noun. Había un solo médico en la sala. There
was only one doctor in the room. Había dos
pacientes allí. There were two patients there.