Imperfect of Ser | Catalan Grammar

The imperfect of ser is era, eres, era, érem, éreu, eren. It identifies and describes people and things inside a past scene: who someone was, what a place was like, what time it was, or what circumstances held while something else happened. English may translate it as “was” or “were,” but those two English words do not reveal either the Catalan ser/estar choice or the imperfect viewpoint.

This paradigm is irregular and must be learned as a unit. Its meaning, however, follows the general imperfect: it presents a past situation from within, without asserting its beginning or endpoint.

The complete paradigm

Person	Imperfect of ser	English guide
jo	era	I was
tu	eres	you were
ell / ella / vostè	era	he/she was; you were
nosaltres	érem	we were
vosaltres	éreu	you all were
ells / elles / vostès	eren	they were; you all were

Quan era petit, volia ser cuiner.

When I was little, I wanted to be a cook.

Tu eres l'única persona que sabia obrir aquella porta.

You were the only person who knew how to open that door.

Érem sis a taula, però havíem cuinat per a deu.

There were six of us at the table, but we had cooked for ten.

The first- and third-person singular forms are identical. Catalan normally omits an obvious subject, so era al despatx may mean “I was in the office” or “he/she was in the office.” Add jo, ell, or ella when the context does not identify the person or when you want a contrast.

Stress falls on the first syllable in every form: E-ra, E-res, É-rem. Only érem and éreu need a written accent. It is acute because the stressed vowel is closed in the Central pronunciation represented by this paradigm. Do not transfer the regular -ia endings: forms such as seria belong to the conditional, not the imperfect.

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Learn the accented pair together: érem, éreu. They are the only forms in the imperfect paradigm of ser with a written accent.

Identity, classification, and origin in the past

Use era and its companions when the past clause answers “who or what was the subject?” This includes identity, profession, membership, origin, material, and possession. These are the same broad domains that select ser in the present; the imperfect adds a past, unbounded viewpoint.

La meva àvia era llevadora i coneixia totes les famílies del poble.

My grandmother was a midwife and knew every family in the village.

Aquelles carpetes eren de la directora, no pas meves.

Those folders belonged to the director; they weren't mine.

El moble era de fusta massissa i pesava una barbaritat.

The piece of furniture was made of solid wood and weighed a ton.

English may use “used to be” when an earlier identity no longer holds: Abans era periodista can mean “I used to be a journalist.” Catalan needs no special equivalent of used to. The imperfect plus context presents the former situation as background.

Description and background setting

The imperfect does not mean that a property lasted forever. It says that the property held at the reference time and leaves its boundaries outside the frame. This makes ser in the imperfect central to scene-setting.

El carrer era estret, els fanals eren febles i gairebé no hi passava ningú.

The street was narrow, the streetlights were dim, and hardly anyone went by.

Encara era fosc quan vam sortir de casa.

It was still dark when we left home.

In the second example, era fosc establishes the circumstances already in force; vam sortir introduces the bounded event that advances the story. The contrast is not “long versus short.” Darkness could last only a few minutes, yet it is still the background from which the departure is viewed.

Adjectives and noun complements agree with the subject: el local era petit; les sales eren petites; ella era la responsable; ells eren els responsables. The verb marks person and number, while an adjective also marks gender where its paradigm allows it.

Time, age, and event setting

Clock time uses singular era with la una and plural eren with the other hours. Age is expressed with tenir, not ser, but ser commonly frames the life stage with petit, jove, or another description.

Era la una tocada i el restaurant ja tancava.

It was just after one, and the restaurant was already closing.

Eren gairebé les onze quan per fi ens van trucar.

It was almost eleven when they finally called us.

Quan éreu joves, també anàveu a concerts cada cap de setmana?

When you were young, did you also go to concerts every weekend?

Events take ser for their location and time: La reunió era a la biblioteca means that the meeting was scheduled or took place there. In the Central baseline, ser also commonly gives a neutral location of people and things: La Marta era a casa; les claus eren al calaix. Estar becomes natural when continued presence, residence, work, or a resultant position is foregrounded. Other varieties, especially Valencian, extend locative estar more broadly (regional: Valencian).

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Do not import the Spanish rule that physical location automatically requires estar. In much Catalan, neutral past location is naturally era a casa; estava a casa tota la tarda foregrounds continued presence.

Weak pronouns and negation

Predicate ho can replace an identity or descriptive complement, and locative hi can replace a place. Both stand before the finite verb. Negation comes first: no + pronoun + imperfect.

—La Berta era la responsable? —Sí, ho era, però ja no hi treballa.

—Was Berta the person in charge? —Yes, she was, but she no longer works there.

En Pau no hi era quan van portar el paquet.

Pau wasn't there when they delivered the package.

Do not attach these pronouns to the finite imperfect: neutral standard Catalan has ho era and hi érem, not era-ho or érem-hi.

Imperfect era versus completed va ser

Era opens a window onto a past state; va ser packages a state or event as a completed whole. The difference is viewpoint, not simply duration.

Imperfect: background from inside	Periphrastic past: bounded whole
La sala era petita, però acollidora.	La conferència va ser curta, però intensa.
Quan era director, dinava aquí.	Va ser director del 2018 al 2021.
Eren les vuit quan vam arribar.	Ahir va ser un dia llarg.

Durant tres anys va ser el nostre entrenador; llavors era molt més exigent que ara.

He was our coach for three years; back then he was much more demanding than he is now.

The first clause closes the three-year appointment as one completed interval. The second describes a quality inside that period. See Periphrastic Past versus Imperfect for the wider contrast.

Mini-dialogue

—Com era el pis on vivíeu? —Era petit, però les habitacions eren lluminoses. —I era gaire lluny del centre? —No, hi érem en deu minuts a peu.

—What was the apartment you lived in like? —It was small, but the rooms were bright. —And was it very far from downtown? —No, we could be there in ten minutes on foot.

The dialogue uses era for description and distance. The final hi érem uses hi to recover the destination from context.

Regional and register notes

The six written forms are shared across the major contemporary standards. Ser and ésser are both standard infinitives; ésser is especially visible in (formal) and (literary) writing, but the imperfect paradigm is the same. Pronunciation varies regionally, and Northern Catalan has local colloquial first-person patterns in other imperfect paradigms, but neutral edited Catalan throughout the domain uses era, eres, era, érem, éreu, eren.

Regional differences matter more in the division between locative ser and estar than in these six forms. Label the intended variety and follow it consistently rather than treating a well-established Valencian locative estar as an error.

The forms here are indicative because the speaker presents the past descriptions as part of the asserted account. In Volia que la sala fos més gran, the desired property is not asserted, so fos is imperfect subjunctive. A nearby verb such as volia does not select mood mechanically; assertion status does.

Common Mistakes

1. Using the conditional instead of the imperfect.

❌ Quan era petit, seria molt tímid.

Incorrect for a real past description — seria is conditional.

✅ Quan era petit, era molt tímid.

When I was little, I was very shy.

2. Dropping the accents in the plural forms.

❌ Nosaltres erem veïns i vosaltres ereu companys de feina.

Incorrect — érem and éreu require acute accents.

✅ Nosaltres érem veïns i vosaltres éreu companys de feina.

We were neighbors, and you were coworkers.

3. Using estar to locate an event.

❌ La reunió estava a l'auditori i començava a les deu.

Incorrect for the event's location — events take ser.

✅ La reunió era a l'auditori i començava a les deu.

The meeting was in the auditorium and began at ten.

4. Forcing an English progressive onto a state.

❌ El cap estava sent molt amable aquell dia.

English-shaped and unnatural for a simple past description.

✅ El cap era molt amable aquell dia.

The boss was very kind that day.

5. Using indicative inside a wish.

❌ Volíem que la reunió era més curta.

Incorrect — the shorter meeting is desired, not asserted.

✅ Volíem que la reunió fos més curta.

We wanted the meeting to be shorter.

Key Takeaways

Use era, eres, era, érem, éreu, eren for identity, description, time, event setting, and—depending on variety—neutral location inside a past frame. Preserve the accents in érem and éreu. Choose era when the state forms the scene or is viewed from within; choose va ser when you package it as a bounded completed whole.

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