Imperfect Conjugations

Spanish imperfect conjugations
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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:

  1. Take the verb’s infinitive
  2. Drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir)
  3. 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
-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
-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
  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 the imperfecto with these exercises:

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 Related lessons

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Imperfecto - Spanish imperfect conjugations

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