The imperfect past tense of regular verbs Share Copied!
The imperfect past tense is a verbal tense in Spanish that we use to talk about past actions that do not have a defined beginning or end, or that were repeated in the past.
Gramática: El pretérito imperfecto de verbos regulares
A2 Spanish Imperfect past regular
Level: A2
Module 4: El buen pasado (The good old past)
Lesson 28: Infancia y recuerdos (Childhood and memories)
Teaching guidelines +/- 15 minutes
Audio and video
- It is used to talk about habitual actions, to describe people, places or situations, and actions in progress in the past.
- For verbs ending in "-ar" add "-aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban".
- For verbs ending in "-er/-ir" add "-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían".
| Pronombre | Verbo en -ar | Verbo en -er/-ir | Ejemplo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | Jugaba | Salía | Yo jugaba con mi juguete favorito cuando salía al jardín. (I used to play with my favourite toy when I went out to the garden.) |
| Tú | Jugabas | Salías | Tú jugabas en el parque cuando salías de la escuela. (You were playing in the park when you came out of school.) |
| Él/Ella/ Usted | Jugaba | Salía | Él jugaba con nostalgia al recordar cuando salía con su familia. (He used to play with nostalgia when remembering when he used to go out with his family.) |
| Nosotros/-as | Jugábamos | Salíamos | Nosotros jugábamos juntos antes de que salíamos de casa. (We used to play together before we used to leave the house.) |
| Vosotros/-as | Jugabais | Salíais | Vosotros jugabais al fútbol cada vez que salíais del colegio. (You used to play football every time you left school.) |
| Ellos/-as/ Ustedes | Jugaban | Salían | Ellos jugaban durante la infancia mientras salían a explorar la naturaleza. (They played during their childhood while they went out to explore nature.) |
Exceptions!
- There are only three irregular verbs in this tense: "ser, ir, ver". Examples: "ser -> yo era, ir -> yo iba, ver -> yo veía".
- The first and third person singular are the same. Example: "yo jugaba/él jugaba".
Exercise 1: El pretérito imperfecto de verbos regulares
Instruction: Fill in the correct word.
veíais, ibas, escuchábamos, echaba de menos, era, os quedabais, cenábamos, salías
Exercise 2: Translate and use in a sentence
Instruction: Pick a word, translated and use the word in a sentence or dialogue.
1
os quedabais
you stayed
2
veían
they saw
3
ibas
you used to go
4
cenábamos
we were having dinner
