Spanish Imperfect Tense - Regular Verbs
One of the two simple past tenses in Spanish is the imperfect. The Imperfect Past tense is used to describe actions or situations that were incomplete or in progress at the point of time in the past that is being described. It is also used for ongoing conditions and repeated occurrences in the past.
The imperfect is the easiest, most regular tense in Spanish. You will notice below that -er and -ir verbs have the same endings (all with accents). The formation of the Imperfect for the regular verbs hablar (to speak), querer (to want), and escribir (to write) is shown in the tables below.
Note: the imperfect tense has two distinct translations for each verb.
| yo |  hablaba |
(I was speaking) | (I used to speak) |
| tú | hablabas |
(you were speaking) | (you used to speak) |
| Ud./él/ella | hablaba |
(he was speaking) | (he used to speak) |
| nosotros | hablábamos |
(we were speaking) | (we used to speak) |
| vosotros | hablabais |
(you guys were speaking) | (you guys used to speak) |
| Uds./ellos/ellas | hablaban |
(they were speaking) | (they used to speak) |
Footnote: Yo = I, Tú = You (casual), Él, Ella, Usted = He, She, You
(formal), Nosotros = We (males/mixed group), Nosotras = We (females), Ellos
= They (males/mixed group), Ellas = They(females), Ustedes = You (plural)
(formal), Nosotros = We (males/mixed group), Nosotras = We (females), Ellos
= They (males/mixed group), Ellas = They(females), Ustedes = You (plural)
| yo | quería |
(I was wanting) | I used to want) |
| tú | querías |
(you were wanting) | (you used to want) |
| Ud./él/ella | quería |
(he was wanting) | (he used to want) |
| nosotros | queríamos |
(we were wanting) | (we used to want) |
| vosotros | queríais |
(you guys were wanting) | (you guys used to want) |
| Uds./ellos/ellas | querían |
(they were wanting) | (they used to want) |
| yo | escribía |
(I was writing) | (I used to write) |
| tú | escribías |
(you were writing) | (you used to write) |
| Ud./él/ella | escribía |
(he was writing) | (he used to write) |
| nosotros | escribíamos |
(we were writing) | (we used to write) |
| vosotros | escribíais |
(you guys were writing) | (you guys used to write) |
| Uds./ellos/ellas | escribían |
(they were writing) | (they used to write) |
Footnote: Since the first and third person singular forms are identical, it is necessary to use the subject pronoun unless the context makes the subject clear. There is no stem change or irregular yo forms in any verb.
Additional Information
15. PRETÉRITO IMPERFECTO - SPANISH IMPERFECT - L’IMPARFAIT
Category: General Spanish