The pretérito imperfeito of regular -ar verbs is the single most regular tense in Brazilian Portuguese. Drop the -ar and add one set of endings — there are no stem changes, no spelling tricks, and (apart from ser) no irregulars. If you learn this paradigm cold, you can put thousands of verbs into the imperfeito with total confidence.
The endings
To form the imperfeito of an -ar verb, drop -ar from the infinitive and add:
| Subject | Ending |
|---|---|
| eu | -ava |
| tu (regional) | -avas |
| você / ele / ela | -ava |
| nós | -ávamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | -avam |
The tu form (-avas) is regional — common in parts of the South and Northeast, but most Brazilians use você, which takes the same ending as ele/ela. In standard São Paulo / Rio speech you can safely focus on eu, você/ele/ela, nós, and vocês/eles/elas.
Falar — to speak
| Subject | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| eu | falava |
| tu (regional) | falavas |
| você / ele / ela | falava |
| nós | falávamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | falavam |
Eu falava espanhol quando era criança, mas esqueci quase tudo.
I used to speak Spanish as a child, but I've forgotten almost everything.
A gente falava sobre você ontem à noite.
We were talking about you last night.
The critical quirk: 1sg and 3sg are identical
Look carefully at the table: eu falava and ele falava are spelled and pronounced exactly the same. The imperfeito is the only indicative tense in Portuguese where the first-person singular ("I") and third-person singular ("he/she/you") share a form.
This matters in practice. In the present, eu falo and ele fala are distinct, so you can drop the pronoun and still be understood. In the imperfeito you usually cannot drop it without risking confusion, so subject pronouns become much more important — often effectively obligatory.
Eu trabalhava de manhã e ela trabalhava à noite.
I worked in the morning and she worked at night.
Drop the pronouns there and the sentence collapses into ambiguity — trabalhava... trabalhava could mean almost anything. Keeping eu and ela is what makes the contrast clear.
The mandatory accent on -ávamos
The nós form carries an obligatory acute accent: -ávamos. Falávamos, trabalhávamos, morávamos. Leaving the accent off (falavamos) is a spelling error, not a typo a native would shrug at — the accent marks the stressed third-from-last syllable (FA-lá-va-mos).
Nós morávamos perto da praia, então íamos nadar todo dia.
We used to live near the beach, so we'd go swimming every day.
Quando éramos jovens, trabalhávamos juntos na mesma loja.
When we were young, we worked together at the same shop.
More common -ar verbs
All of these follow falar exactly:
| Infinitive | eu / ele / ela | nós | vocês / eles |
|---|---|---|---|
| trabalhar (to work) | trabalhava | trabalhávamos | trabalhavam |
| morar (to live/reside) | morava | morávamos | moravam |
| comprar (to buy) | comprava | comprávamos | compravam |
| gostar (to like) | gostava | gostávamos | gostavam |
| estudar (to study) | estudava | estudávamos | estudavam |
Eu gostava muito daquele professor de história.
I really liked that history teacher.
Eles compravam pão fresco na padaria toda manhã.
They used to buy fresh bread at the bakery every morning.
A gente estudava na biblioteca porque em casa era impossível.
We used to study at the library because at home it was impossible.
Notice gostava takes de (gostava daquele professor) — the imperfeito doesn't change the preposition the verb requires.
Why -ar is the easy one
The reason the -ar imperfeito feels so clean is historical: it descends directly from the Latin imperfect endings -abam, -abas, -abat... with almost no erosion. The b softened to v (amabam → amava), but the structure stayed intact. Compare this to the present tense, where -ar verbs split into multiple irregular patterns (dar, estar), and you can see why the imperfeito is the safe harbor: even the present-tense irregular estar becomes perfectly regular here (estava, estávamos, estavam).
O restaurante estava sempre cheio aos sábados.
The restaurant was always full on Saturdays.
Pronunciation note: the unstressed -ava
In everyday Brazilian speech, the -ava ending is often pronounced with a relaxed, slightly reduced first vowel, but the spelling never changes. You may also hear, in very casual speech, the nós form falávamos shortened by some speakers to something closer to "falava nós" with a gente, but in writing and careful speech the full -ávamos with its accent is the standard. Do not let the casual sound mislead your spelling: the written forms are always falava, falávamos, falavam.
A gente conversava por horas no telefone, igual adolescente.
We used to talk on the phone for hours, like teenagers.
Here a gente conversava (third-person singular agreement) is the everyday colloquial equivalent of nós conversávamos — both are correct, but a gente is more frequent in casual Brazilian speech and conveniently sidesteps the accented nós form.
Common Mistakes
❌ Nós falavamos português em casa.
Incorrect — missing the mandatory acute accent on the nós form.
✅ Nós falávamos português em casa.
We used to speak Portuguese at home.
❌ Trabalhava de manhã e trabalhava à noite. (sem pronomes)
Confusing — without pronouns, the identical 1sg/3sg forms make it unclear who did what.
✅ Eu trabalhava de manhã e ela trabalhava à noite.
I worked in the morning and she worked at night.
❌ Quando eu era criança, eu falo inglês.
Incorrect — mixing the present 'falo' into a past-habitual sentence.
✅ Quando eu era criança, eu falava inglês.
When I was a child, I spoke English.
❌ Eles falavão muito alto.
Incorrect — the third-person plural ending is -avam, not the invented -avão.
✅ Eles falavam muito alto.
They used to talk very loudly.
The last error is a real spelling trap: Brazilian learners (and even some native writers) sometimes write -ão where the unstressed -am belongs, because both can be pronounced with a nasal "ow"-ish quality in fast speech. In writing, the imperfeito ending is always -avam, never -avão.
Key Takeaways
- Drop -ar, add -ava / -ávamos / -avam (plus regional tu -avas).
- eu -ava and ele/ela -ava are identical — keep your subject pronouns.
- The nós form always carries the acute accent: -ávamos.
- Even the present-tense irregular estar is regular here: estava, estávamos, estavam. The only true -ar-area irregular is ser (era), covered separately.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Pretérito Imperfeito OverviewA2 — An introduction to the pretérito imperfeito — Brazilian Portuguese's tense for ongoing, habitual, and background past events.
- Imperfeito: Regular -er and -ir VerbsA2 — How -er and -ir verbs share a single imperfeito paradigm, and how to keep it distinct from the conditional.
- Imperfeito of SerA2 — How to conjugate ser (era) in the pretérito imperfeito — the only fully suppletive imperfeito verb in Brazilian Portuguese.
- Imperfeito for Habitual PastA2 — Using the imperfect to express what used to happen — repeated, habitual, or customary actions in the past.
- Pretérito Perfeito: Regular -ar VerbsA1 — How to conjugate regular -ar verbs in the Brazilian Portuguese preterite, including the spelling-change verbs like fiquei and cheguei.