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Spanish Verbs: Past Imperfect Tense
Regular -AR verbs
Model Question and Answer: Supply the past imperfect tense form. Q: Él nunca (entrar) en la iglesia. |
Useful Grammar For This Quiz
The past imperfect tense is the easiest to form and the most regular of all tenses in Spanish. The conjugation of the typical first conjugation verb hablar follows:
| See: | hablar |
Whereas the simple past tense (el pretérito), describes a single and completed past action, the past imperfect tense is used to describe a repeated or habitual action in the past. It is equivalent in this usage to the English used to.
Yo fumaba mucho.
I used to smoke a lot.
El hablaba francés bien.
He spoke (i.e. used to speak) French well.
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Regular -ER & -IR verbs
Model Question and Answer: Supply the past imperfect tense form. Q: Yo le (escribir) muchas cartas. |
The endings for verbs of the second and third conjugations (i.e. er and ir verbs) in the past imperfect tense are conjugated as follows:
| See: | comer | |
| See: | vivir |
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Uses of -AR, -ER, -IR verbs in the imperfect
Model Question and Answer: Supply the past imperfect tense. Q: Ella dijo que no (sentirse) bien. |
We learned previously that the past imperfect tense is used to describe a repeated or habitual past action, and is equivalent in this usage to the English used to.
Yo fumaba mucho.
I used to smoke a lot.
This tense also has another use in Spanish. It is used to describe a continuing past action, particularly an action which was continuing when something else happened. In this usage, it has the same meaning as the Past Continuous Tense in English.
Ellos hablaban* español cuando entré.
Juan leía un libro cuando llegamos.
* The progressive form of leer (estaban leyendo) is more common in such sentences but the use of the past imperfect tense is also correct here and frequently met.
Model Question and Answer: Supply the past imperfect tense. Q: Yo (creer) que Carlos estaba en casa. |
The student should note that various verbs such as creer, saber, pensar, tener, poder, deber, sentirse are generally used in the past imperfect tense in Spanish rather than in the simple past tense as is done in English. The implication in Spanish is that these verbs, in most situations, suggest a state of mind or condition which prevailed for some time rather than something that took place only at a specified moment.
Yo creía que Juan estaba enfermo.
No sabíamos que ellos hablaban español.
