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Imperfecto
The Spanish imperfect is relatively easy to conjugate. All regular and all but three irregular Spanish verbs are conjugated as follows:
- Take the verb’s infinitive
- Drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir)
- Add the imperfect ending.
-ar verbs
In the imperfect, -ar verbs have an "aba" ending.
Pronoun | Ending | hablar > habl- | comenzar > comenz- | jugar > jug- |
yo | -aba | hablaba | comenzaba | jugaba |
tú | -abas | hablabas | comenzabas | jugabas |
él | -aba | hablaba | comenzaba | jugaba |
nosotros | -ábamos | hablábamos | comenzábamos | jugábamos |
vosotros | -abais | hablabais | comenzabais | jugabais |
ellos | -aban | hablaban | comenzaban | jugaban |
-er and -ir verbs
-er and -ir verbs both take an "ía" ending in the imperfect.
Pronoun | Ending | com > com- | vivir > viv- | poner > pon- |
yo | -ía | comía | vivía | ponía |
tú | -ias | comías | vivías | ponías |
él | -ía | comía | vivía | ponía |
nosotros | -íamaos | comíamos | vivíamos | poníamos |
vosotros | -íais | comíais | vivíais | poníais |
ellos | -ían | comían | vivían | ponían |
Irregular verbs
Ir, ser, and ver are the only irregular verbs in the imperfect.
Pronoun | ir – to go | ser – to be | ver – to see | |||
yo | iba | era | veía | |||
tú | ibas | eras | veías | |||
él | iba | era | veía | |||
nosotros | íbamos | éramos | veíamos | |||
vosotros | ibais | erais | veíais | |||
ellos | iban | eran | veían |
For all of the above, note that the yo and él forms are identical; if the context leaves ambiguity as to which person was doing the action, be sure to use the pronoun.
Imperfect Quizzes
Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on imperfect conjugations:
* Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless Spanish account to take this test. If you don’t have one, sign up – it’s free!
Related lessons
- Imperfect conjugations – PwLS super list
- Using the imperfect
- Pretérito vs imperfecto
- Imperfect subjunctive
En français
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