Transcript No Slide Title

THE IMPERFECT TENSE
The imperfect tense in Spanish is used to
•describe things that used to happen
• places,objects and people (in the past)
•give background description that is secondary to
the main action.
It is formed by taking the stem of the infinitive and adding
the endings as follows
Ar verbs e.g. hablar
Yo hablaba
Nosotros hablábamos
Tú hablabas
Vosotros hablabais
Él/ella/usted hablaba
Ellos/ellas/ustedes hablaban
Er verbs
E.g. comer
Yo comía
Nosotros comíamos
Tú comías
Vosotros comíais
Él/ella/usted comía
Ellos/ellas/ustedes comían
IR verbs
E.g. vivir
Yo vivía
Tú vivías
Él/ella/usted vivía
Nosotros vivíamos
Vosotros vivíais
Ellos/ellas/ustedes vivían
Guess the good news?
There are only
THREE irregular
verbs in the imperfect!
SER—to be (P)
VER—to see
ERA
VEÍA
ERAS
VEÍAS
ERA
VEÍA
ÉRAMOS
VEÍAMOS
ERAIS
VEÍAIS
ERAN
VEÍAN
IR—to go
IBA
IBAS
IBA
ÍBAMOS
IBAIS
IBAN
The imperfect
The preterite
The imperfect sets the scene in the past and the
preterite ‘crashes’into it, with a single action.
•Things that used to happen
Cuando era joven me gustaba ir al parque
todos los días.
When I was young I used to like going
to the park every day.
•Places,objects and people (in the past)
La chica era alta,tenía el pelo largo y llevaba gafas
The girl was tall, had long hair and wore glasses
•Background description that is secondary to the
•main action (in the past)
Eran las doce de la noche. Hacía viento y llovía.
El asesino entró en la casa con una pistola.
It was midnight. It was windy and it was raining. The
murderer entered the house with a pistol.