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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 the imperfecto with these exercises:
Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless Spanish account to take these tests. 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
In italiano
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