The Imperfect Tense...

We learned that there are two simple past tenses in Spanish.  The preterit tense refers to the beginning or the end of an action or to a whole action that was completed in the past.  The imperfect refers to an habitual action or an action in progress viewed at a given moment in the past. 

Forms of the imperfect

Adding the imperfect endings to the infinitive stem forms the imperfect tense of almost all Spanish verbs.  The imperfect endings of –ar verbs have a characteristic b and an accent mark on the stressed a of the first person plural forms.  The imperfect endings of

–er and –ir verbs have a characteristic stressed í.   

Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect tense.

Uses of the imperfect

The imperfect tense describes an action in progress in the past or a situation or condition that existed over an indefinite period of time in the past.  The equivalent in English is usually given as was (were) ₊ the –ing (gerund) form of the verb.

¿Qué hacían Uds. A las diez anoche?    

What were you doing at ten last night?

Mientras mi hermana miraba la televisión, yo leía el periódico. 

While my sister was watching television I was reading the newspaper.

Tabajábamos día y noche en el proyecto. 

We were working day and night on the project.

The imperfect tense describes a habitual past action.  Words or expressions such as con frequencia, muchas veces, and siempre often serve as cues for the imperfect.  The English equivalents of these kinds of action are used to + verb or would + verb. 

De joven, yo iba a la playa con frecuencia. 

When I was young, I used to go the beach frequently. 

The imperfect tense is often used to describe the background of an event or to tell what was happening when an action took place. 

Hacía un tiempo excelente, y no había viento.

The weather was excellent, and there wasn’t any wind.

¡Qué jóvenes éramos entonces!

How young we were then!

The imperfect expresses clock time and age in the past. 

Eran las cinco de la tarde. 

It was five o’clock in the afternoon. 

Tenías veintiséis años. 

You were twenty-six years old. 

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