El Pretérito Imperfecto

Spanish imperfect past

El Pretérito Imperfecto also known as El Imperfecto and El Copretérito

El Pretérito Imperfecto is the imperfect past tense of the indicative mood. It expresses repeated actions which were happening, habits in the past, actions that used to happen, or for emphasizing the prolongation in time of an action.

For example

Yo solía nadar todas las semanas cuando era pequeña.I used to swim every week when I was little.

Tú siempre volvías del trabajo a las 6.00 pm.You always came back from work at 6.00pm.

Edgar Degas siempre pintaba bailarinas y carreras de caballos.Edgar Degas always painted ballet dancers and horse races.

Vosotros trabajabais en Madrid durante los años 80.You used to work in Madrid in the 80s.

Los actores firmaban autógrafos después de cada función.The actors signed autographs after each function.

This is how El Pretérito Imperfecto is formed:

For -ar verbs

Drop the -ar from the infinitive and add this set of endings:

  • Hablar = habl-
yo hablaba
tú hablabas
él / ella / Ud. hablaba
nosotros / nosotras  
 hablábamos
vosotros / vosotras  
 hablabais
ellos / ellas / Uds.   hablaban

For -er and -ir verbs 

Drop the -er/-ir from the infinitive and add this set of endings:

  • Comer = com-
  • Vivir = viv-
yo comía vivía
tú comías vivías
él / ella / Ud. comía vivía
nosotros / nosotras  
 comíamos vivíamos
vosotros / vosotras  
 comíais vivíais
ellos / ellas / Uds.   comían vivían

There are only three irregular verbs in El Pretérito Imperfecto:

  • Ser (to be)
era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran
  • Ver (to watch/see)
veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían
  • Ir (to go)
iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban

See also: Spanish Past Tenses and All Spanish Tenses

Lessons with more detail on El Pretérito Imperfecto

Conjugate ser in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Imperfecto)
Using the imperfect tense in Spanish to express habits or repeated actions in the past (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
Conjugate regular -ar verbs in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
Conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Imperfecto)
Conjugate ver in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
Conjugate ir in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
"There was"/"there were" in Spanish: había
Conjugate estar in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
Conjugate soler in the imperfect tense (El Imperfecto)
Conjugate tener in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
Conjugate verb hacer in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
Using the imperfect tense in Spanish to "describe" a situation in the past
Using ir in the imperfect tense in Spanish to express was/were going to [do something]
Using the Spanish preterite tense combined with cuando + the Spanish imperfect tense
Using poder in the preterite vs the imperfect in Spanish (could in past actions)
Conjugate deber in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
Conjugate querer in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
Conjugate poder in the imperfect tense in Spanish (El Pretérito Imperfecto)
Using Spanish verb ser in the imperfect vs the preterite
Using Spanish verb estar in the imperfect vs the preterite
Using Spanish verb tener in the imperfect vs the preterite
Using the imperfect vs the preterite in Spanish (general use)
Spanish Había vs Hubo (Imperfect vs Preterite)
Using the imperfect vs the preterite in Spanish (time markers)
Using Hacía + length of time + que + the Spanish imperfect tense to express duration in the past
Using the Spanish imperfect tense to refer to a present action/future action
Verbs ver, oír, escuchar, oler, sentir, encontrar in the imperfect
I'll be right with you...