THE IMPERFECT TENSE
The imperfect is a past tense in Spanish. Its uses are
different from those of the preterite. They are used in different contexts and
emphasize the continuation of an action in the past. To form the imperfect
tense, remove the infinitive endings (-ar, -er, and -ir)
and add the following conjugated endings:
|
Pronoun |
Comprar/ to buy |
Vender/ to sell |
Recibir/ to receive |
|
yo/ I |
compraba |
vendía |
recibía |
|
tú/ you |
comprabas |
vendías |
recibías |
|
él, ella, Ud./ he, she, you |
compraba |
vendía |
recibía |
|
nosotros/ we |
comprábamos |
vendíamos |
recibíamos |
|
vosotros/ you |
comprabais |
vendíais |
recibíais |
|
ellos/ they |
compraban |
vendían |
recibían |
USES OF THE IMPERFECT TENSE
1. The Spanish imperfect tense has several
meanings in English; the Spanish imperfect is used to describe actions that
occurred repeatedly or habitually in the past. To communicate the same idea in
English, the phrases used to or would, past
continuous, or simple past are used.
2. The imperfect tense is used to describe
physical conditions or characteristics of people and things in the past:
3. It is also used to
express ongoing emotional or mental states, desires and opinions in the past:
4. The imperfect
is used to express time or age in the past:
5. The imperfect is used with the
conjunction mientras/ while to express 2 or more ongoing and
simultaneous actions:
6. It is also used to describe a scene in
the past:
