To conjugate any regular -ar Spanish verb in El Pretérito Imperfecto, add these regular endings to the stem of the verb:
| yo | -aba |
| tú | -abas |
| él / ella / Ud. | -aba |
| nosotros / nosotras |
-ábamos |
| vosotros / vosotras |
-abais |
| ellos / ellas / Uds. | -aban |
Hablaba con mi padre por teléfono todo el tiempo.
I used to talk to my dad on the phone all the time.
María cantaba flamenco en las calles.
María used to sing flamenco in the streets
¿Recuerdas cómo bailabas de pequeña?
Do you remember how you danced when you were little?
Nosotros caminábamos mucho por el campo antes.
We used to walk a lot in the countryside before.
Vosotros nadabais en esa piscina los jueves.
You used to swim in that swimming pool on Thursdays.
Estos artistas franceses pintaban cuadros magníficos.
These Frensh artists used to paint wonderful paintings.
For example, with hablar the stem is habl-
|
REGULAR -AR VERB |
HABLAR |
|
yo |
hablaba |
|
tú |
hablabas |
|
él / ella / usted |
hablaba |
|
nosotros /nosotras |
hablábamos |
|
vosotros /vosotras |
hablabais |
|
ellos/ellas/ ustedes |
hablaban |
See also Conjugate regular -er and -ir verbs in El Pretérito Imperfecto (imperfect) for regular -er and -ir verbs.
Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics
Examples and resources
María cantaba flamenco en las calles.
María used to sing flamenco in the streets
Hablaba con mi padre por teléfono todo el tiempo.
I used to talk to my dad on the phone all the time.
Vosotros nadabais en esa piscina los jueves.
You used to swim in that swimming pool on Thursdays.
¿Recuerdas cómo bailabas de pequeña?
Do you remember how you danced when you were little?
Nosotros caminábamos mucho por el campo antes.
We used to walk a lot in the countryside before.
Estos artistas franceses pintaban cuadros magníficos.
These Frensh artists used to paint wonderful paintings.
Steve
Kwiziq community member
6 November 2018
3 replies
Recordar in El Pretérito Imperfecto
In one of the quizes engish scentence "After the blow, you didn't remember anything" one is asked to conjugate recordar in the El Pretérito Imperfecto tense. I used "recordaba" but this was marked as incorrect. recordabas was marked as corrrect. Why is the "You formal" conjugation not correct for the above scentence?
Korbel
Kwiziq community member
6 November 2018
6/11/18
Recordaba would be correct if they asked for "you" usted (formal). But, the question was specific to "you" Tú (informal.)
Steve
Kwiziq community member
6 November 2018
6/11/18
Inma
Kwiziq language super star
7 November 2018
7/11/18
Hi Steve,
You are right. There is nothing telling you whether you need the informal or formal form. I added this to the hint: "Conjugate the "tú" form of "recordar" in El Pretérito Imperfecto.", so it is clear now which one we are asking for.
Gracias y un saludo,
Inma