The Spanish Imperfect: Describing the Past

• comía, comías, comía, comíamos, comíais, comían
• vivía, vivías, vivía, vivíamos, vivíais, vivían

The only irregular verbs

Only three verbs are irregular:

Verb	Forms
ser	era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran
ir	iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban
ver	veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían

When to use it

1. Habits and repeated actions: De niño, jugaba al fútbol todos los días. As a child, I played football every day.
2. Descriptions: La casa era grande. The house was big.
3. Ongoing actions: Estaba lloviendo. It was raining.
4. Time and age: Eran las ocho. It was eight o'clock. Tenía diez años. He was ten.
5. Background: Hacía frío y todos dormían. It was cold and everyone was sleeping.

Time words

• siempre, always
• a menudo, often
• todos los días, every day
• mientras, while
• de niño, as a child

Used to

The imperfect often translates as "used to": Vivíamos en Madrid. We used to live in Madrid.

Tips

1. Learn the three irregulars.
2. Use it for habits and descriptions.
3. Use the dictionary to check forms.

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